Glass 
Boole. 




zj££- 



OIL REGION 



OF 



TENNESSEE 



WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF ITS OTHER 



RESOURCES AND CAPABILITIES. 



By J. B. KlLLEBREW, 

Commissioner qf Agriculture, Statistics and Mines. 



NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE: 

PRINTED BY ** T H E AMEBICAN" PBINTINO COMPAQ 

1877, 



4<\l 



^ ^ 

1 <$1>^ 



To His Excellency, Gov. Jas. D. Porter : 

The work which is herewith submitted, has been ready 
for the press for two months or more, but its publication 
has been delayed in order to prepare a suitable map to ac- 
company it. 

At the time of my investigations — in April and May — 
the demand for information pertaining to the oil districts of 
Tennessee came almost daily. Since that time the oil pro- 
duction in Pennsylvania has been greatly increased. In 
March the production per day was 29,087 barrels. In 
April this was increased to 32,427 barrels; May, 36,374; 
June, 37,693, the largest daily production ever obtained. 
The entire production for June was 1,130,790 barrels. 
This has had the effect of lowering the price of oil, and to 
prevent new developments. Nevertheless, the oil region of 
Tennessee, aside from its probable importance in the future 
as an oil producing district, has many attractions for the 
immigrant. Unlike almost every other locality where oil 
is found, it is a fruitful region, abounding in generous soils, 
excellent timber, unsurpassed water powers, and a consider- 
able amount of mineral wealth. It is a high, healthy 
country, with pure air, sheltered nooks, sunny slopes, rug- 



ged steeps. It has its plateaus, grand forests, sweet herbage, 
cooling springs, a scenery varied and picturesque, and is 
coursed by many beautiful streams, which give animation 
to the landscape, and supply, during a portion of the year, 
the means of transporting the products of the soil to 
market. I have, therefore, not confined myself simply to 
the oil indications but have given such general facts as may 
interest those seeking to found colonies, or to occupy a vir- 
gin soil. The continuation of the Tennessee and Pacific 
Railroad, or the McMinnville and Manchester Railroad to 
the Cincinnati Southern, would make this hitherto almost 
inaccessible region one of the fairest and most productive 
portions of the State. 

I have the honor to be, Governor, 

Your obedient servant, 

J. B. KILLEBREW. 

August 4, 1877. 



TENNESSEE OIL REGION. 



CHAPTEK I. 



PETROLEUM, 



HISTORY, CONDITIONS OF DEVELOPMENT AND STORAGE, 
PRODUCTS AND EDUCTS, ORIGIN, USES — STATISTICS OF 
PRODUCTION. 

Petroleum is no new product. It has been known, and 
used to some extent, in the arts for four thousand years. It 
was employed in the mortar at the building of Babylon and 
Ninevah. The Egyptians used it in embalming their dead. 
From time immemorial the bituminous matter of the Dead 
Sea has been known. The petroleum springs that ooze out 
upon the banks of the Is, a tributary of the Euphrates, at- 
tracted the attention of Alexander, and of several of the 
Roman Emperors. On one of the Ionian islands there is a 
spring which has been known for more than 2,000 years. 
In Zante, in Ecbatana, in Sicily, in Italy, on the Caspian 
Sea, in Persia, on the banks of the Irawaddy, in Bavaria, 
France, England, Scotland, in the Indian Archipelago, and 
in the Island of Trinidad, petroleum is found. It has been 
imported into Liverpool from Africa, and even China, with 
its universal resources and inventions, lays claims to unlim- 
ited supplies of oleaginous wealth. 



6 



OIL KEGION 



111 



But the largest quantities yet met with in the world are 
the Northern States of America. New York, West 
Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, 
Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and California all 
supply it in greater or less quantities. It occurs in nearly 
every geological formation, from the lower Silurian to the 
tertiary epoch. It is found associated with sandstones, lime- 
stones and shales, sometimes existing in subterranean cavities; 
sometimes saturating the porous rocks; sometimes impreg- 
nating the loose sands. It is met with at various depths, 
from a few feet, to more than a thousand. Most of the 
productive wells in Pennsylvania are over 300 feet deep. 
The oil occurs in several zones at different depths, the 
higher zones furnishing the heavier oils and the lower zones 
the lighter. The fissures containing the oil usually occur 
upon gentle anticlinals, the oil and gas being forced up by 
the pressure of water from the synclinal troughs. The flow 
of oil is almost always accompanied by carburetted hydrogen 
gas, which rushes up sometimes with an almost irresistable 
force. Salt water also, especially in Pennsylvania, accom- 
panies the oil. The proportion of salt water is very vari- 
able. The probable manner in which the water, oil and 
and gas occur in the subterranean cavities, is illustrated in 
the following diagram : 



A B represents 
the surface of the 
ground. G N a fis- 
sure underground, 
filled with water, 
oil, and gas. A 
w^ell sunk at C 
would give forth 
gas only. One 
sunk at D would give a flowing w r ell, the oil being forced up 
by the supernatant gas, and the oil would continue to flow 




OF TENNESSEE, 7 

as long as the elastic pressure of the confined gas is greater 
than the weight of the column of atmosphere. The pres- 
sure of the gas is sometimes equal to several hundred 
pounds to the square inch ; sufficient to throw the oil fifty 
or sixty feet high in the air above the surface. Should a 
well be sunk at E there would be a flow of salt water, and 
this would continue until the lower surface of the oil sinks 
to the level of the well, when oil would begin to flow. 

Wells are sometimes intermittent and act precisely like 
intermittent springs. "More frequently, however," says 
Prof. Winchell, " the continual action of gas and oil pro- 
duces the phenomenon. In boring a well suppose a stream 
of gas is struck one hundred feet from the surface of the 
rock and a small stream of oil twenty feet below the gas. 
The entrance of oil fills twenty feet of the hole and begins 
to submerge the fissure at which the gas is escaping. The 
gas forces its way through the oil with a spluttering sound, 
bubble after bubble rising to the surface. As the oil as- 
cends the gas makes louder and louder complaints, till 
finally summoning all its accumulated energies it hoists the 
superincumbent column of oil to the surface, and pours it 
out in a stream of a few seconds' duration. The flow then 
ceases and the same operation begins to be repeated." 

At other times the oil saturates a porous sandstone as 
water does a sponge, and when this sandstone is perforated 
by the auger the oil collects in it like water in a well sunk 
in a porous, humid sand. Wells of this character are gen- 
erally of long years' duration, and maybe pumped for years, 
the porous sandstone continuing to supply the oil as fast as 
pumped out. 

As to the origin of oil there are numerous theories all of 
them more or less tenable, but to all of which there are ob- 
jections not easily answered. 

The most plausible, and the one now generally accepted, 
is that our coal beds, coal oil, bitumin, and such substances 
are the products of organic life, animal and vegetable, 



8 OIL REGION 

which flourished in the ancient Silurian, Devonian and car- 
boniferous seas. The remains of this life are seen in the 
multitude of fossil shells, in the bunches of seaweeds, and 
in the extensive coal beds which occupy such a large por- 
tion of this carboniferous era. Nearly all the black shale 
of the Devonian age appears to be nothing more than com- 
pressed beds of seaweeds, which were deposited in the oozy 
bottoms of an ancient ocean. This hardened bed of sea- 
weeds is the most prolific source of petroleum. The Cin- 
cinnati rocks, in their accumulations of animal remains, 
supply material for the production of coal oil. Exactly 
how the petroleum is extracted from these substances is not 
so clear, but it is supposed to be by a slow process of fer- 
mentation or distillation, but the fact remains that animal 
or vegetable remains are a necessary antecedent to the gen- 
eration of coal oil. 

Mr. H. Byassen explains the origin of petroleum, upon 
experimental grounds, as follows : 

If a mixture of vapor of water, carbonic acid and sul- 
phureted hydrogen be made to act upon iron heated to a 
white heat in an iron tube, a certain quantity of liquid car- 
burets will be formed. This mixture of carburets is com- 
parable to petroleum. The formation of petroleum can 
thus be naturally explained by the action of chemical 
forces. The water of the sea, penetrating into the terres- 
trial crust, carries with it numerous materials, and especially 
marine limestoft. If the subterranean cavity permits these 
new products to penetrate to a depth where the temperature 
is sufficiently high, in contact with metallic substances, such 
as iron or its sulph'urets, we have a formation of carburets. 
These bodies will form part of the gases whose expansive 
force causes earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, etc. Petroleum 
is always found in the neighborhood of volcanic regions or 
along mountain chains. In general it will be modified in 
its properties by causes acting after its formation, such as 
partial distillation, etc. Petroleum deposits will always be 



OF TENNESSEE. 9 

accompanied by salt water or rock salt. Often, and es- 
pecially where the deposit is among hard and compact 
rocks, it will be accompanied by gas, such as hydrogen, sul- 
phureted hydrogen, carbonic acid, etc. 

The solution of the mystery of its formation is less im- 
portant than determining the proper condition of its stor- 
age. When the rocks containing elements for generating 
oil lie in juxtaposition to porous sandstones and limestones, 
or are next to a stratum filled with cavities, the whole se- 
ries being wrapped up in an impervious clay ; the work of 
generation, and the conditions of storage are found to- 
gether, and such a region constitutes an oil region. Both 
of these conditions must co-exist. The oil may be gene- 
rated and lost, or there may be a fit receptacle for oil with- 
out the elements necessary to produce it. Observation has 
shown that the best storehouse is a porous sandstone or con- 
glomerate, and next to this a vesicular or cavernous lime- 
stone. Sometime good supplies have been found in the in- 
terstices of hard siliceous rocks. This was the case with 
the most productive wells in Overton County, Tennessee. 

All petroleum oils are hydro-carbons, that is to say, they 
are composed of the elements of carbon and hydrogen, and 
range from light and inflammable oils, to those which are 
heavy, viscid, and tarry, and requiring a high temperature 
for ignition. According to Mr. S. Dana Hayes, State 
Chemist of Massachusetts, petroleum yields by distillation 
nine products, as follows : 

Name. Sp. grav. Sp. grav. Boiling 

(Water, 1.) Baume. Point. 

Ehigolene 625 — 65° Fahr. 

Gasolene 665 85 120° " 

C. Naphtha 706 70 180° " 

B. Naphtha 724 67 220° " 

A. Naphtha 742 65 300° •< 

Kerosene Oil 804 45 350° " 

Mineral Sperm Oil 847 36 425° " 

Neutral Lubricating Oil 883 29 575° " 

Paraffine 848 (?) — — 

Ehigolene is the lightest of all the products of petroleum, 



10 OIL REGION 

evaporating rapidly in the open air and probably might be 
used in the manufacture of ice. It is now used for pro- 
ducing local anaesthesia in surgical operations. 

Gasolene is used in automatic gas machines, and has been 
lately used in a stove, constructed for the purpose of cook- 
ing. 

A., B. and C. Naphthas are used in paints and varnishes. 

Kerosene is the oil used in lamps for illuminating pur- 
poses. 

Mineral sperm oil is also used for illuminating purposes. 
It will not take fire at any temperature below 300 F. It 
is, therefore, very safe. 

Neutral lubricating oil is the most valuable mineral oil 
for lubricating purposes. It has but little more taste or 
odor than the oil of almonds. 

Paraffine is used for making candles, for preserving 
meats, to coat paper for photographic uses, to preserve tim- 
ber, fruit, etc., to prevent oxidation of metals, to render 
fabrics waterproof, and for many other purposes. 

The extent to which it has been brought into use during 
the past eighteen years, giving employment to the idle, 
light to darkness, heat to cold, health to disease, almost 
challenges our belief. Thousands of men, women and chil- 
dren find employment by its development. A writer con- 
nected with the Galena Oil Works, thus eloquently speaks 
of it: 

" Petroleum has become an important article of commerce, 
requiring hundreds of vessels to transport it to the most 
distant lands. Kerosene, its refined product, is generally 
known all over the civilized world. It has found its way 
to every part of Europe and the remotest portions of Asia. 
It shines on the Western prairie, burns in the homes of 
New England, and illumines miles of princely warehouses 
in the great cities of America. Everywhere is it to be met 
with in the Levant and the Orient, in the hovel of the 
Russian peasant and the harem of the Turkish pasha. It 



OF TENNESSEE. 11 

is the one article imported from the Uni ed States and 
sold in the bazaars of Bagdad, the l City of the Thousand 
and one nights/ It lights the dwellings, the temples and 
the mosques, amid the ruins of Babylon and Nineveh. It 
is the light of Abraham's birthplace, and of the hoary city 
of Damascus. It burns in the Grotto of the Nativity at 
Bethlehem, in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jeru- 
salem, on the Acropolis of Athens and the plains of Troy, 
and in cottage and palace along the banks of the Bospho- 
rus, the Euphrates, the Tigris and the Golden Horn. It 
has penetrated China and Japan, invaded the fastnesses of 
Tartary, reached the wilds of Australia, and shed its ra- 
diance over many a dark African waste. Pennsylvania 
petroleum is the true cosmopolite, omnipresent and omnipo- 
tent in fulfilling its grand mission of enlightening the 
whole universe ! Surely a product of nature that has be- 
come such a controlling influence in the affairs of men may 
well challenge universal attention to its origin, its history 
and its economic uses/' 

No oil ought to be used for household purposes which 
can be set on fire, at an ordinary temperature, with a 
match. The experiment can be tried by any one. Let 
some of the oil be poured in a saucer ; apply a match, if 
the oil burns, it is unsafe and should be rejected. 

The amount of oil obtained from some of the wells almost 
defies credulity. The Empire well in Pennsylvania flowed 
3,000 barrels daily for a year, w r hen it ceased, and 200 bar- 
rels per day were brought up by pumps. The Noble well 
made for its owners §11,000,000. The Phillips well yielded 
2,000 barrels per day for a long time. The Sherman well 
flowed at the rate of 1,500 barrels a day for some time, 
then dropped to 700 barrels per day, and flowed steadily for 
twenty-three months, and then become a pumping well. A 
well sunk in Pennsylvania in May, 1877, flowed 3,500 bar- 
rels per day for three days, and then dropped down to 2,700 
for two days, then 2,000 for a week ; afterward 1,000 for 



12 OIL REGION 

thirty days. Two months after it was bored it only yielded 
400 barrels per day. The well seems not to be fed by per- 
colation, but the oil appears to have been collected in an 
underground cavern. 

Dr. Winchell, in his Sketches of Creation, gives a list of 
the flowing wells in Ontario, Canada, numbering thirty- 
four, fifteen of which flowed over one thousand barrels per 
day. The well of Black & Matthewson discharged 7,500 bar- 
rels per day, and the oil floated on Black Creek to the depth of 
six inches, and formed a film on the surface of Lake Erie. 
Prof. Winchell says during the spring and summer of 1862 
no less than five millions of barrels of oil floated off upon 
the waters of Black Creek, a national fortune totally wasted. 

It has been stated that petroleum occurs in almost every 
formation. The oil-producing region of Northwest Penn- 
sylvania lies mainly outside of the coal field. In South- 
west Pennsylvania the wells are bored through some por- 
tions of the coal measures. The oil strata pass below the 
coal measures five or six hundred feet. The conglomerate 
which underlies the coal caps a few of the highest hills. 
The oil wells are bored mainly in the Chemung and Portage 
groups of the Devonian that lie just above the black shale 
formation. These two members of the Devonian (Che- 
mung and Portage) are wanting in Tennessee, the only rep- 
resentative of the Devonian we have being the black shale 
corresponding to the Hamilton shales of New York. Prof. 
Newberry considers this the mother rock of petroleum, con- 
taining much carbonaceous matter, which in nature's labo- 
ratory is transformed into petroleum. This is forced upward 
into the porous rocks above by the water that finds its way 
beneath, and by the pressure of the carbureted hydrogen 
gas also furnished from the same material. In Canada the 
oil comes from the Hamilton shales. Dr. T. Sterry Hunt 
thinks the Corniferous limestone is probably the source of 
petroleum in Ontario, but Prof. Winchell totally dissents 
from this opinion, and declares that after having examine^ 



OP TENNESSEE. 13 

all the oil regions east of the Rocky Mountains, he is con- 
vinced that the black shales are the chief generators of sup- 
plies of native petroleum. Below is a synopsis of the oil 
regions as given by Dr. Winchell, which goes a great way 
to sustain his position. It ought to be remarked, however, 
that the black shales around Burksville are precisely the 
same as those which occur in the oil region of Tennessee 
and belong to the Devonian age : 

u I. The black shales of the Cincinnati group afford oil 
which accumulates in the fissured shaly limestones of the 
same group, and supplies the Burkesville region of South- 
ern Kentucky, and Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron. 

" II. The Marcellus shale affords most of the petroleum 
w T hich accumulates in the fissured shaly limestones of the 
Hamilton group, and thus supplies the Ontario oil region, 
locally divided into the Bothwell district, the Oil-Springs 
district, and the Petrolea district. 

" The Marcellus shale affords also a large portion of the 
oil which accumulates in the drift gravel of the Ontario 
region. 

III. "The Genesee shale, with perhaps some contributions 
from the Marcellus shale, affords oil which accumulates in 
cavities and fissures within itself in some of the Glasgow 
region of Southern Kentucky. 

"It -affords also the oil which accumulates in the sand- 
stones of the Portage and Chemung groups in Northwest- 
ern Pennsylvania and contiguous parts of Ohio. 

" It affords also the oil which accumulates in the sand- 
stones of the Waverley (Marshall) group, in Central Ohio. 
" It affords also that which accumulates in the mountain 
limestone of the Glasgow region of Kentucky and contigu- 
ous parts of Tennessee, as also some of that which is found 
in the drift gravel of the Ontario region. 

" IV. The shaly coals of the false Coal-measures, aided, 
perhaps, by the Genessee and Marcellus shales, seem to af- 
ford the oil which assembles in the coal conglomerate as 



14 OIL REGION 

worked in Southwestern Pennsylvania, West Virginia, 
Southern Ohio, and the contiguous but comparatively bar- 
ren region of Paint Creek, in Kentucky. 

u V. The Coal-measures may perhaps be regarded as af- 
fording a questionable amount of oil, which may have been 
found within the limits of the Coal-measures in the West 
Virginia and neighboring regions. 

" From this exhibit it appears that the principal supplies 
of petroleum east of the Rocky Mountains have been gen- 
erated in four different formations, accumulated in nine dif- 
erent formations, and worked in nine different districts." 

Something about the Production in Pennsylvania. — 
Since the striking of the Drake well in the Pennsylvania 
oil region in 1859, there has been produced in that State up 
to January 1, 1877, 82,026,500 barrels of petroleum, which 
brought at the wells the sum of $287,000,000 to the pro- 
ducers. 

In the year 1859 the production of the Western Pennsyl- 
vania region was only 3,200 barrels. This sold in its crude 
state at the wells for an average of 31 cents per gallon. 
The production for the following year (1860) aggregated 
about 650,000 barrels. The price for this year had dimin- 
ished to such an extent that the crude oil sold for only 16 
cents per gallon. 

Subsequently the highest price realized for oil was ob- 
tained in 1864, when the aggregate production reached 
2,116,182 barrels. The average price received for oil dur- 
ing this year was $7.62 per barrel. In 1874 the produc- 
tion reached the enormous sum of 10)910,303 barrels, which 
had a great effect upon the price of oil for that year, the 
average price for the year being only $1.29 per barrel. 
Since that time the production has gradually fallen off. Until 
quite recently serious apprehensions were entertained of the 
final exhaustion of this important commodity in the Penn- 
sylvania oil region. Under the effects of this diminution 
in the amount of production the price of crude petroleum 



OF TENNESSEE. 15 

at the wells rose to $2.73 per barrel. This, however, has 
been effected by the discovery of large producing wells in 
the Bullion District, the extent of whose production has 
proven almost as great as in the best periods in the history of 
oil interest in this country. Since April of this year the 
price of this substance has ranged from $2.40a$2.93 to 
$1.50 per barrel in June. 

It is estimated, by competent persons, that the cost of re- 
fining the oil produced for a succession of fifteen years has 
been about 75 per cent of the cost of the crude material. 

From 1859 to January 1, 1869, there had been 5,560 
wells drilled, which produced something less than 25,700,- 
000 barrels of oil, making an average yield for each well of 
nearly 4,600 barrels. For this was realized an average of 
$4.06 per barrel, making the average sum for each well 
$18,700. 

From 1869 to the present time the nature of the produ- 
cing territory has been better understood than previously, 
and as a consequence there has not been so great a number 
of failures in drilling. The total number of wells drilled 
from 1st January, 1869, to 1874, was 4,939, each of which 
produced about 8,400 barrels. The average price of crude 
oil for this period is $2.91, making the product of each 
well yield about $24,500. Since that period up to April, 
1877, 8,902 wells have been sunk. 

At the last of April, 1877, of the 17,955 wells which had 
been sunk on or near the producing territory, 6,846 were 
pumping, producing an average of five barrels each per 
day. The daily average of new wells is thirteen and a half 
barrels. The average life of wells in the Pennsylvania 
region, taken from actual record, is a little over two and 
one-half years. The cost of drilling the 5,560 wells up to 
January, 1869, was $4,000 each. For the remaining wells 
during the latter period mentioned, no estimate has been 
made. 



16 OIL REGION 

About one well in six sunk in the oil region proves a dry 
hole. Many others do not yield over four or five barrels 
per day at first, with a constantly diminishing return. 

The following tables will show some interesting facts in 
regard to petroleum. They are taken from StowelVs Petro- 
leum Reporter : 



OF TENNESSEE. 



17 



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18 OIL REGION 

Average price per barrel of 42 gallons for the crude oil 
at the wells : 



!0 00 

9 60 

49 

1 05 


1869 

1870 

1871 

1872 


So 48 

3 74 

4 50 

3 84 


3 15 

7 63 
5 18 


1873 

1874 

1875 


1 84 

1 29 

1 48 


3 78 

2 54 


1876 

1877 


2 73 

2 87 


3 05 







1859 $20 00 

1860 

1831 

1862 

1863 

1864 

1865 

1866 

1867 

1868 

The effect of increased production will have a tendency 
to lower prices,, but the -decline in prices will bring it into 
new uses. The time is not distant, when some of the pro- 
ducts of petroleum will be used in heating, as well as light- 
ing our houses, cooking our food, and in various other ways 
ministering to the comforts of life. The New York corre- 
spondent if the TitusviUe Herald, commenting upon this in- 
creased production, says: Europe must have the oil, and 
refiners are going to make them pay for it. Europe is trying 
to buy without agitating the market. The present disparity 
between production and consumption, and the excess of the 
former over the latter, will avail European merchants no- 
thing during the present season. 

This disparity is well understood at the seaboard and in 
Europe, and it seems pretty well understood that Europe is 
to have no benefit from it. There is plenty of empty tank- 
age in the region, and into tanks the surplus will go, if there 
shall be any surplus, although it is doubtful if there will be 
any, at least for some months to come. What, though 
production now reaches 30,000 barrels per day, with a pros- 
pect of further increase to 32,000 by the first of July ? 
The actual amount of accidental consumption last year 
averaged 2,000 barrels per day during the first six months 
and it is only reasonable to suppose the lightning will carry 
off as much during the present year. The domestic trade, 
which is not over well supplied, will require say 6,000 
barrels per day which will increase with the advent of warm 



OF TENNESSEE. 1 9 

weather when the demand for refined oil for petroleum 
stoves will commence. And it very evident that the enorm- 
ous demand of the export trade in 1876 will be materially 
increased during 1877. During last year nearly 10,000,000 
barrels were shipped from the region and it is universally 
conceded that these shipments did not represent the actual 
consumption of the world, the surplus stocks abroad at the 
beginning of the year having been drawn upon to supply 
the deficiency. The present foreign stocks being much 
smaller than a year ago, and affording a smaller reservoir 
to draw upon will necessitate larger shipments to meet 
demands for cousumption. 



20 OIL REGION 



CHAPTER II. 



OIL EEGION OF TENNESSEE. 



GEOLOGY— TOPOGRAPH Y — SOILS — STREAMS — FARM PRO- 
DUCTS — TIMBER, OF OVERTON, PUTNAM, CLAY, JACKSON 
AND FENTRESS COUNTIES. 

The oil territory of Tennessee occupies the extreme south- 
ern end of the great oil belt which extends in a south-west- 
erly direction from Ontario, Canada, through New York, 
Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee, 
This belt widens out at both extremities, leaning to the 
westward in Canada, and spreading out laterally in Ten- 
nessee, so as to include Dickson and Hickman counties. 
The following counties are included, or supposed to be 
included, in the oil region of Tennessee, viz.: Overton, 
Clay, Putnam, White, Warren, Jackson, Trousdale, Sum- 
ner, Davidson, Dickson and Hickman. In all these indi- 
cations of petroleum have been found. Overton, Clay, 
Putnam, Jackson and Fentress furnish by far the most 
numerous external indications of oil, and to a particular 
description of these we shall address ourselves. 

Geology. — These counties mainly belong to that natural 
division of the State called the Highland Rim, a portion of 
the State which surrounds, like the rim of a dish, a great 
central basin in the interior of the State. For the most 
part the formation is sub-carboniferous, though the deep 
bedded streams usually cut down through this formation 
and the Devonian black shale to the Cincinnati or Nash- 
ville group. The Devonian age, unlike that in Pennsylva- 



OF TENNESSEE. 21 

nia has only one representative corresponding with the 
Hamilton black shale of New York. The Corniferous, 
Marcellus, Portage, Chemung and Catskill are all wanting, 
also the upper Silurian rocks. The Portage group in New 
York and Pennsylvania, consists of shales and laminated 
sandstones, and has a thickness of a thousand feet or more. 
The Chemung group has the same lithological character, 
and in these two formations, most of the oleaginous product 
of Pennsylvania as has been mentioned, is stored. 

OVERTON COUNTY. 

Geological Formations. — In Overton county there is a 
great variety of formations. The coal measures cap the high 
points in the eastern part of the county, and are also met 
with in isolated peaks, as Pilot Mountain and Alpine Moun- 
tain. The Lower Carboniferous consisting of two groups, 
the Mountain limestone and the Siliceous group, has a wide 
spread development, especially the latter. The Mountain 
limestone occurs in limited areas, forming benches on the 
slopes of the Cumberland table-land, and crops out on the 
sides of extensive plateaus which rise above the general level 
of the county. It is about 400 feet thick. 

The Siliceous group covers fully three-fourths^of the county, 
and forms the clay uplands of the county. This group has 
two members, 1. The Lithostrotion or Coral bed. 2. The 
Lower Siliceous or Protean bed, lying below. 

The Coral bed covers extensive areas in the northern parts 
of the county, and may always be known by the presence 
of a fossil coral resembling a " petrified hornet's nest." It 
is usually about 200 feet thick in this county. 

The Lower or Protean bed covers all that region around 
Spring creek, the undulating lands to the south of Livings- 
ton, the flat lands on the west, and many places in the north- 
western parts of the county. It takes numerous forms. At 
the oil wells on Spring creek, it is a hard, flinty limestone ; 
below Waterloo falls, and at places on Obey's river it is a 



22 OIL REGION 

gray orinoidal limestone : on Eagle creek, a bluish shale 
known as the Keokuk shale, and in other localities a sili- 
ceous rock. Its general thickness is about 270 feet. 

Below this comes the black shale of the Devonian age, 
varying in thickness from 26 to 35 feet. It is seldom found 
as a top formation. A few limited areas are found at the 
mouth of Eagle creek, and in the beds of some of the streams 
as they near Obey's or Cumberland rivers. Neverthe- 
less, it is a very persistent formation, and may always be 
found in its proper horizon. 

The Cincinnati group of the Lower Silurian presents 
itself in the beds, or enclosing banks, of the principal streams 
as they approach the Cumberland. On Spring creek the Cin- 
cinnati or Nashville rocks come to the surface below Water- 
loo falls ; on Roaring river, just below Crawford's mill. 
On Obey's river these rocks begin just above the mouth of 
Franklin creek. 

Topography, Soils and Streams. — As might be inferred 
from the great diversity of geological formations, the topo- 
graphical features are striking, and show variety in an emi- 
nent degree. There are rugged heights, rolling plains, level 
plateaus, rocky gorges and deep-sunk valleys, and coves 
sheltered between the massive walls of everlasting hills. 
The Cumberland table-land has scolloped edges displaying a 
very rugged contour, steep escarpments, sloping sides rough- 
ened by boulders. Level areas on the summit are charac- 
teristic of this portion of the county. The sides of the 
mountain are furrowed by many a stream. Chasms great 
and terrible, profound In their depths and striking in their 
suddenness, form one of the principal features of the west- 
ern mountain side. Spurs shoot out for many a mile into 
the lower plains. Many of these are dissected by transverse 
hollows, leaving isolated peaks nearly or quite as high as 
the Cumberland mountain itself. The top of the mountain 
has all the characteristics peculiar to this division of the 
State. A thin soil resting upon a conglomerate sandstone, 



OF TENNESSEE. 23 

from the crumbling down of which it has been derived, 
everywhere marks this portion of the county. Two or 
three seams of good coal are usually found under this cap 
ol conglomerate rocks, inter-stratified with shales and sand- 
stones. The soil of the mountain is adapted to the growth 
of apples; Irish potatoes and garden vegetables, generally. 
The land is thinly wooded, covered usually in sumner with 
a luxuriant growth of native grasses and pea-vines, and 
furnishing a large amount of highway pasturage. But few 
habitations are found here, and this part of the oil region 
is almost as wild as it was when the Indian roamed 
in all his fearless independence through its silent forests. 
But little of the table-land, however, belongs to Overton or 
Putnam counties. An outlying ridge in Overton county 
extends northward between East and West Fork of Obey's 
river, about fifteen miles in length, and in breadth from 
one to six miles. The outlines of this ridge are very irreg- 
ular. At two or three points it is broken by gaps which 
drop down to a level with the terrace-lands which lie all 
along the western borders of the Cumberland table-land. 
The ridge between the East and West Forks (see map) often 
rises to the height of the table-land, that is to say, about 
2,000 feet above the sea, and 500 feet above the average 
level of the terrace-lands. 

These terrace lands occupy a considerable part of the 
county. From below the cliffs of the table-land they ex- 
tend westward and northward, oftentimes indented by coves 
or cut by streams, along which lie many beautiful and fertile 
valleys. It is impossible to define with accuracy the 
limits of this portion of the county. It occupies all the 
south-eastern part of the county except a small strip that 
lies in the Cumberland table-land. On a level with these 
terrace-lands there is a ridge covered with sandstone extend- 
ing through the middle of the county, forming the water- 
shed between the waters of West Fork and Roaring river. 
It extends from Thorn gap thirteen miles south-east of Liv- 



24 OIL REGION 

ingston to a point near Monroe, a distance of about sixteen 
miles. It then turns to the westward, widening out into ter- 
race lands and extending about fifteen miles further. The 
breadth at some points is five or six miles, while at others it is 
nearly cut in two by coves on opposite sides. Usually the top 
of this ridge is a well defined plateau, but at several 
points there are knobs rising from its surface which attain 
an elevation nearly equal to the table-land. Pilot Mountain 
is one of these, which lies a little south of Monroe, and is 
really an outlier of the table-land with its seams of coal, 
and the characteristic sandstone of that division of the State. 
Alpine mountain is another, a little east of Livingston. The 
soil of these terrace-lands is sandstone, and much resembles 
that of the table-land. Indeed, it was probably a portion 
of the table-land, but the ierosion of time has gradually car- 
ried away the coal measures, except at a few places, and left 
the ancient foundation upon which they rested. In travel- 
ing from Livingston to Celina, the county seat of Clay 
county, the road ascends the terrace-lands a little north- 
west of Livingston, and keeps on it to within a few miles 
of Celina. The underlying rock is mainly the Mountain 
limestone, and some of the soil is very productive. 

The valley of West Fork lies between the ridge which 
runs from Thorn gap northward, and the outlying ridge be- 
tween East and West Fork. The usual breadth of this 
valley is about two miles, and its length about twenty. It 
is one of the best portions of the county for agricultural 
purposes. In the angle formed by this dividing ridge in 
its turn westward, there is a beautiful little valley, in which 
Livingston is situated. 

Numerous coves exist in the neighborhood of Livingston 
that supply much fine farming lands. White's cove begins 
at Livingston and extends eastward for three miles. It is 
bounded by high plateau lands on every side except the east. 
It is rather an indentation in the great dividing ridge or 
watershed that we have spoken of. A considerable quan- 



OF TENNESSEE. 25 

tity of land in White's cove is swampy. The native growth 
is sweet-gum, swamp-ash and white-oak. The slopes bound- 
ing this cove are very heavily timbered with poplar, chest- 
nut and black walnut. The soil of the slopes though very 
fertile, is rendered almost unfit for agricultural purposes, by 
reason of large masses of sandstone and limestone,which every- 
where cover the surface. Going eastward, to the head of the 
cove, and ascending the terrace-lands, we find them level 
and heavily timbered. Alpine mountain rises like a trun- 
cated cone from these terrace-lands, and forms a striking 
object in the landscape. The top of Alpine mountain is 
level, but a deep gorge called Medlock's hollow, about two 
miles long, cuts the mountain towards the north-east into 
two arms. On the sides of the gorge coal seams are exposed, 
but they are thin and nearly worthless. In rock houses on 
the face of the escarpment, alum and copperas are found in 
great quantities, resulting from the disintegration of the 
aluminous shales. Transverse gorges make into Med- 
lock's hollow, but they are usually short. Brown hematite 
iron ore occurs on the side ot Medlock's hollow in large 
quantities, but it is very siliceous. Chalybeate springs 
abound. Upon this mountain there is every condition of 
health. There is a life-giving property in the atmosphere 
that imparts an elasticity to the frame, giving joy to the 
heart and an animation to the soul. The mind and body 
receive a new vitality by being bathed in this pure moun- 
tain air, which produces an exhilaration of spirits beyond 
that of any drugs. The time is not now, but it will come, 
when the edges of this mountain will be covered w T ith the 
palaces of the rich, who will come to enjoy the perpetual 
delight of breathing the mountain air. 

Bates' cove lies three miles north of Livingston, and is 
scooped out of the terrace-lands. It is tw T o and a half miles 
long and two miles wide. It furnishes much good farming 
land, and the farms are usually well improved. 

Dog Hollow cove lies thirteen miles south of Livingston, 



26 OIL REGION 

on the headwaters of West Fork, and furnishes the largest 
and best body of farming land in the county. 

Big Joe Copeland cove lies four miles south of Livings- 
ton, and is about three miles long and three-fourths of a 
mile wide. The soil is excellent, and was originally covered 
with cane. 

Hunter's cove lies to the north-w r est of Livingston, and 
includes 600 acres of very fertile land. 

Numerous other coves, as Eldridge's, Hunter's, Nettler's, 
Sinking cove, Andrew's cove and Carlin's, supply a large 
amount of very productive lands. In fact, the existence of 
rich coves form one of the chief attractions of Overton 
county. Many of these coves furnish as good soils as may 
be found in the State, which, will produce year after year 
large crops of grain and forage, with scarcely any percep- 
tible deterioration. The soil is a good loam and easy of 
tillage. 

The lands in the south-western part of the county are 
much broken, except on the plateaus between the streams. 
Roaring river, with its tributaries, (Spring creek being the 
largest,) drains this part of the county. The slopes to the 
streams are very gradual, and the alluvial bottoms narrow. 
The plateaus between the streams furnish some soils of a 
moderate fertility and a large amount of valuable timber. 
These plateaus are what are known as clay uplands. This 
class of lands occupy most of the area of the valleys also. 
The surface is moderately undulating, sometimes rolling or 
broken and easily washed. The Lithostrotion bed covers 
much of the county lying below the terrace-lands. Fre- 
quent sinkholes are seen. The St. Louis limestone is seen 
on the hill-sides and along the streams near their sources, 
but lower down the streams cut through it; also through the 
black shale below, to the Nashville rocks. But little of the 
soil, however, rests upon the Nashville limestone, only a few 
bottoms on Obey's river, Roaring river and Mill creek. In 
the northern part of the county the ground is strewn with a 



OF TENNESSEE. 27 

fossil coial known as the Lithostrotion Canadense. In many 
places a coarse blacK chert is also scattered over the surface. 
This invariably denotes a good soil. Upon some of the 
hills in the northern part of the county, notabJy so in those 
bounding Eagle creek and Obey's river, a fine-grained sand- 
stone occurs, known as the AVaverly sandstone. It fur- 
nishes a poor soil. Toward the western part of the county 
frequent masses of coarse sandstone are met w r ith. Near 
Hill ham the forests are very dense. Chestnut timber 
abounds. The soil, when fresh, produces well, but is easily 
exhausted unless rotated with clover. 

The soils of the county may be put in the following 
classes : 

1. Cumberland mountain sandstone soil. — Thin and unpro- 
ductive for ordinary field crops. Good for fruits and vege- 
tables, especially Irish potatoes. 

2. The soil of the terrace-lands. — Composed mostly of 
sandy material, but with more humus than the soil of the 
mountain, and consequently more productive. It covers an 
extensive plateau between Livingston and Celina. It forms 
the terrace lands of the county. 

3. Mountain limestone soil. — Found on the slopes of the 
Cumberland table-land and on the terrace slopes. This is 
generally very productive but hard of cultivation, owing 
to the prevalence of surface rocks. Many of the upper 
benches of the mountain has a soil derived from this lime- 
stone, which is rich in plant food. It is highly productive 
of the cereals. 

4. The soil of the St. Louis limestone. — This is distributed 
over a considerable portion of the northern part of the 
county. All that extensive plateau lying between West 
Fork and Eagle creek, and extending southward to Alpine 
mountain, is covered with this soil. Also a considerable 
area around Hillham. Its limits are precisely those of the 
coral bed spoken of on a previous page. This soil is clayey 
and filled with fossil coral. Some areas are very fertile. It 



28 OIL REGION 

constitutes a large part of the clayey uplands. It often 
runs into the 

5. Siliceo-calcareous soil — which lies below, but separated 
from it in places, by a fine-grained sandstone seen on the 
edges of the bluffs on "West Fork, Eagle creek and Obey's 
river. The siliceo-calcareous soil abounds south of Livings- 
ton, extending as far up as the oil wells on Spring creek. It 
has cherty or flinty layers with a red retentive clay. The 
large black-oak forests south-west of Livingston, grow upon 
this soil, and much of the heavily timbered lands about Hill- 
ham belong to it. It is susceptible of indefinite improve- 
ment, the underclay retaining for a great while all fertil- 
izers put upon it. Stiffer than other calcareous soils, it is 
not so liable to wash where the land is moderately broken. 
It has commingled w T ith it beds [of chert which supply a 
natural drainage. Such lands should produce large crops 
of wheat and tobacco. The lands have the same soil upon 
which the heavy crops of fine tobacco are grown in Mont- 
gomery, Robertson and Stewart counties, and which extend 
into Christian, Todd, Logan and Simpson counties, of Ken- 
tucky. These soils are noted also for their durability and 
strength, and for the certainty with which they produce 
crops. Droughts effect them less than any other soils in the 
State, when they have been well and deeply plowed, the 
clay below r acting as a reservoir which supplies the moisture 
to the plant during the dryest seasons. 

The siliceous character of this soil is lost in some of the 
lands on West Fork, where the siliceous limestones give 
way to the Keokuk- shales. The soil from these shales is 
less friable, being stiff and cold and of an ashen hue. It is 
not so productive as the siliceous soils, but this want of pro- 
ductiveness is not caused so much by a lack of plant-food as 
by its bad physical condition. It is so compact and stiff that 
free access of the air is prevented, which is essential to the 
fertility of soils and to the healthy growth of plants. Sub- 



OF TENNESSEE. 29 

soiling and under-draining would make the soils from the 
Keokuk shales as valuable as any in the county. 

6. Black shale soil. — This is confined to a few farms near 
the mouth of Eagle creek. It is stiff but forms good grass 
lands, and when deeply stirred by the plow produces a boun- 
teous yield of corn and wheat. 

7. Nashville limestone soil. — This is very fertile, probably 
the strongest soil in the county, but limited in area, being 
confined to a few bottoms on Obey's river, Mill creek and 
Roaring river. 

It will thus be seen that Overton county, and indeed all 
the counties in the oil belt, possess a great variety of soils, 
and are adapted to the production of every crop east of the 
Tennessee river. 

Fruit, owing to this great variety of soil and to the end- 
less variety of exposures and sub-climate arising from dif- 
ferences of altitude, is never a complete failure. 

Overton county is abundantly supplied with streams 
which ramify every square mile of its surface except a small 
portion of the terrace-lands. Obey's river is the largest and 
most important stream, though it only passes through a small 
portion of the county on the north-east. It is navigable as 
far as the mouth of West fork, for several months in the 
year. West Fork, its main tributary, rises twelve miles 
south-east of Livingston, and flows in a northerly direction 
through a beautiful and fertile valley. Throughout its 
whole course it is a bold, rapid stream, hemmed in by high 
banks, and is capable of supplying a large amount of valu- 
able water power. It has three forks : The most eastern 
heads in Norrid's cove in Overton county; the middle in a 
depression called Pine Hollow ; the western* in Dry Hollow. 

East Fork rises among the mountain spurs of Fentress 
and Putnam counties, and by its union with West Fork, 
which is just within Clay county, forms Obey's river. It 
much resembles West Fork, though longer and larger. The 
two streams head within a short distance of each other and 



30 OIL REGION 

enclose the high ridge heretofore spoken of in their circling 
arms. Most of this stream is in Fentress county. Some 
excellent seams of coal are exposed by its head branches. 
It is also found at many places along its course which will 
be spoken of hereafter. Roaring river, a tributary of the 
Cumberland river, ramifies with its head-waters the county 
south of Livingston and flows" north-west. It is a bold, im- 
petuous stream, and supplies some excellent water powers. 
The most important tributary of this stream is Spring creek, 
which rises in the mountain spurs, and, taking a north- 
westerly course, forms for a considerable distance the boun- 
dary between Putnam and Overton counties. On the banks 
of this stream the largest quantities of oil have been found. 
A more minute description of the operations there will be 
given hereafter. 

WATERLOO FALLS 

on this stream, is a noted water power, and deserve a full 
description. These Falls are ten miles south-west of Liv- 
ingston and ten miles north of Cookville, the county seat 
of Putnam county. They consist of a succession of three 
falls. The bluff above the first fall is 96 feet high, but is 
easy of descent by a winding road. The first fall tumbles 
over ledges of siliceous limestone eight feet thick. From 
the foot of the first fall, for 800 feet, the descent of the 
stream is very rapid, falling at the rate of about one foot in 
fifteen. On the right of the stream which here sweeps 
around in a semi-circle, is a level space covering several 
acres, affording ample room for the erection of any number 
of mills. On the left a precipitous bluff of siliceous sub- 
carboniferous limestone rises to the height of 100 feet or 
more, forming a bounding circular wall. The w r ater from 
the first fall can be easily and cheaply conveyed to the point 
indicated, and its whole force turned upon a water-wheel 
A powder mill was at one time in operation at this place. 
Four hundred and fifty feet below this point another fall 



OF TENNESSEE. 31 

occurs of about two feet. This is succeeded, at the distance 
of one hundred and twenty feet, by the grandest of all 
the falls on the stream. Here the water has a perpendicu- 
lar descent of 10 feet, striking at that distance against a 
mass of shelving rocks which forms a bench. The water 
as it falls upon these rocks is dashed into spray, and rolls over 
the projecting layers of rocks in great white foaming masses, 
into a quiet pool below, where, resting awhile, it darts off 
into a succession of cascades. The top rock of the falls is 
a hard siliceous limestone about three feat thick. This rests 
upon the black shale, which is here about 24 feet thick. 
The stream below the main falls flows over the black shale 
for a hundred yards, at the end of which distance it cuts 
down into the grayish Nashville limestone. The gorge 
widens and deepens below the falls, the rocks of the bluff 
sometimes overhanging the yawning chasm. The black 
shale is saturated with petroleum, and even the Nashville 
rocks below are made odorous with the oleaginous exu- 
dations. The stream comes around, after going half a mile, 
to within 700 feet of the point of deflection above the falls, 
forming a peninsula. A race cut across the neck of the 
peninsula will secure a fall of 40 feet. The average width 
of the stream is 40 feet, and depth about fifteen inches. The 
water is constant, being fed by never-failing springs. The 
banks of the stream are durable, and the material for the 
construction of dams is abundant. The neck of the penin- 
sula through which a race may be cut, consists of a tough 
clay with intermingled chert and gravel. I know of no 
more valuable water power in the State. The only disad- 
vantage attending it is the distance from means of trans- 
portation. 

A bed of crinoidal limestone probably 100 feet high, 
takes the place of the lower member of the siliceous group 
just below the falls. It rests upon the black shale, and is 
much eroded about the centre. The debris or talus which 
extends from the deep groove in the bluff down to the black 



32 OIL BEGION 

shale formations, is composed in large part of crinoidal 
stones and buttons, some of them very large and beautiful. 

Flat creek rises four miles north-west of Livingston, 
flows south-west, and empties into Roaring river. Its 
length in a direct line is four miles. 

Mill creek rises north-west of Livingston, and takes a 
general direction north-west, to the Cumberland river, 
carving out as it approaches the river, a basin, deep down 
into the Nashville rocks. It has a few good bottom farms 
near its mouth. • 

Mitchell's creek heads eight miles nearly north of Liv- 
ingston, runs north-west, and empties into Obey's river. It 
also affords good water powers. It has several falls. Near 
its mouth are some good bottom farms, resting upon the 
Nashville rocks. Carter's creek empties into this from the 
west side. 

In going up Obey's river Irons creek comes next. It 
rises eleven miles north-west of Livingston, and empties 
into Obey's river two miles below the mouth of Wolf, which 
comes from the opposite side. 

A mile above the mouth of Wolf, but on the south side 
of Obey's river, Asburn's creek comes in. It is a small 
stream, but noticeable from the oil seeps and salt wells that 
occur on its banks. 

Eagle creek rises five miles north of Livingston, and 
flows north and north-east, and empties into Obey's river 
seven or eight miles in a straight line from the junction of 
East and West Forks. Near the source of this stream are 
some excellent water powers that have been utilized. 

Several of these .streams pass through a portion of Clay 
county, as may be seen by reference to the accompanying 
map. 

PUTNAM COUNTY. 

Having thus given a general view of Overton county, we 
turn now to Putnam, a county in many respects similar. 



OF TENNESSEE. 33 

It lies on the south of Overton, and, geologically, is almost 
identical with Overton. 

Geology and Topography. — Much of this county belongs, 
geologically, to the Lithostrotion bed of the siliceous group 
of the sub- carboniferous. The St. Louis limestone occurs 
in a strip on the west, running north and south. East of 
Cookville this is' super-imposed by the Mountain limestone 
which forms many ridges. Still east of this is a strip very 
irregular in outline, of the carboniferous formation. A con- 
siderable ridge runs through the county from west to east, 
upon which the old Walton road passes. This ridge is the 
watershed between the waters of Caney Fork on the south 
and those of the Cumberland river on the north. The 
length of the county from east to west, is about forty miles, 
while its average breadth is not more than twelve miles. 
To go more into detail, the eastern end comprising about 
one-eighth of its entire area, is on the Cumberland table- 
land. This part of the table-land is remarkable as contain- 
ing the head springs of streams radiating from it as a 
centre toward every point of the compass. The East and 
West Forks of Obey's river flow north, Spring creek north- 
west, Fallingwater nearly west, Calf Killer river south- 
west, and just across the line, in Cumberland county, are 
the head springs of Emory, which flows east into Clinch 
river, above Kingston. These facts are an evidence of its 
great elevation. These streams, except the last, in their 
descent from the elevated plateau, have cut through the 
western escarpment, forming many deep ravines and seques- 
tered valleys, with towering ridges projecting between. The 
scenery here is remarkable for its wildness and sublimity. 
Bold cliffs of sandstone and conglomerate, crowned with 
scraggy trees, where the scream of the eagle is not inire- 
quent, and the howl of the wolf is sometimes heard ; moun- 
tain sides rugged with jutting cliffs, the deformities of which 
are sometimes concealed by mantling ivy ; " benches" (ter- 
races) here and there with good farms and orchards ; deep 



34 OIL REGTOK 

valleys sometimes with narrow bottoms, but more frequently 
pressing close upon a stream which dashes and thunders 
down one cascade after another — such are the characteristic 
features of this part of the county. As we approach the 
central part of the county, the valleys become wider, and 
the ridges and spurs run out into lower hills, or disappear 
entirely. We are now in the red clay region, a broad belt 
of which extends along the western base of the table- land. 
In Putnam county this belt is about fourteen miles wide, 
and is the best part of the county. Its surface is diversi- 
fied with hill and dale, the beds of most of the streams be- 
ing considerably below the general level of the country. 
Sinkholes and caves are a characteristic of this belt of clay 
lands, and in the neighborhood of the mountains are many 
large springs, whose waters have accumulated, and perhaps 
flowed for miles in underground channels. The country be- 
comes more level and the lands less fertile toward the west, 
until the part of the county designated by the significant 
name of "barrens" is reached. Here the red clay gives 
place to a yellowish sub-soil, greatly deficient in calcareous 
matter, and too leachy to bear improvement. There is but 
little humus in the surface soil, and it is not well adapted 
to the production of grain. The surface is generally level, 
except in the neighborhood of the streams, and the timber 
is thin and of small size. But the valleys and the hill-sides 
along the streams afford some good lands, and the less fer- 
tile portions are covered with nutritious wild grasses, which 
furnish pasturage for large numbers of cattle and sheep. 
The extreme western end of the county runs down into the 
hills bordering the Caney Fork and Cumberland rivers, and 
takes in a small part of the Central Basin. The Highland 
Rim is so broken by the valleys separated by projecting 
ridges that its escarpment is not well defined. The sur- 
face is broken, but the soil of the valleys lying upon Silu- 
rian limestones is very fertile. 

Soils. — The soils of the table-land are light and sandy, 



OF TENNESSEE. 35 

and not valuable, except for fruit-growing and grazing. 
But little of this part of the county has been improved, and 
lands can be bought at very low figures. The mountain 
limestone on the western face of the table-land does not 
present any very extended areas of land level enough to 
cultivate, but there are several farms on some of the benches, 
which are rich enough to produce any crops grown in this 
latitude, and are especially valuable for fruit farms. In such 
situations orchards never fail to bear good crops. The cove 
lands are often level and always very fertile. The soil is a 
yellow loam, having enough of sand to render cultivation 
easy, but not so much as to impair its fertility. It is some- 
times several feet thick, resting upon red clay or limestone. 
As already stated, the clay uplands occupy the central part 
of the county, and embrace the largest area of good lands. 
The soil is a dark brown mould, rich in humus, and with 
good tillage will continue to increase in fertility. The sub- 
soil is a strong red clay, possessing many of the elements 
of fertility. At a greater or less depth beneath the surface 
is found limestone, either blue or gray, and sometimes fos- 
siliferous. It often crops out on the hill-sides, and nearly 
always along the streams. The soils in the barrens are 
chiefly valuable for grazing. We believe there is no part 
of the State better adapted to the rearing of sheep. The 
coarse native grasses are nutritious, and the cultivated 
grasses grow finely. But the porous yellow subsoil is so 
leachy that we do not recommend these lands for grain 
farms. There are places, however, w r here red clay and 
limestone are found, and in all such the lands are rich. 

It may here be mentioned that much of this land which 
has been considered very infertile is gradually undergoing 
a change for the better. The early settlers had a very per- 
nicious habit of burning the leaves from the " barrens" 
every spring in order to facilitate the early grow 7 th of the 
native grasses upon which they relied for pasturage for 
their stock. This practice was kept up by their descend- 



36 OIL EEGION 

ants, and the result was: 1. That no humus could accumu- 
late, and 2nd, the shrubs and young trees were killed as 
fast as they appeared. The woods were therefore thin, and 
the trees consisted mainly of black-jack oaks, which were 
able, by their rough, thick bark, to resist these annual con- 
flagrations. The land was, therefore, exposed to the heats 
of the summer sun. All moisture was dissipated, and no 
fertilizing gases could be absorbed from the atmosphere. 
Each succeeding year showed a greater degree of impover- 
ishment. More recently, however, these fires have been un- 
popular, because they endangered the fences of the farms. 
They are, therefore, not so common. Wherever they have 
been kept out, the undergrowth has sprung up, and the 
land is shaded and kept moist during the summer. The 
soil is becoming blacker and more fertile, and the time will 
doubtless come when these lands will be in demand for 
tobacco and wheat, to the growing of which they are be- 
coming well adapted- 

The bottoms alongside the streams and hill-sides, especi- 
ally those facing the north, are generally fertile. The val- 
leys in the western end of the county have a deep, dark 
soil, generally resting on Silurian limestone, and very rich. 
Buffalo Valley, in the western end of the county, is four 
miles long, with an average width of one mile. The sur- 
face is level, and the soil very fertile. Dry Valley is 
scarcely less fertile, and has a large area. Along the base 
of the mountain are several coves, or small valleys. 

Sfreams. — As has been stated the ridge running east and 
west is the water-shed of the county It is about 30 miles 
long. Beginning on the north side of the ridge there are 
several of the tributaries of the Roaring river, including 
Blackburn's Fork and Spring creek. On the south side is 
Falling Water, whose head-waters are within three miles of 
those of Spring creek, which flows in the opposite direc- 
tion. The tributaries of Falling Water are Hudgens 
creek, Post Oak, Pigeon Roost, and Cane creek. West of 



OF TENNESSEE. 37 

Falling Water is Mine Lick, which empties into Caney 
Fork. These last have a general direction south. Wolf 
creek, Indian creek and Rock Spring creek, run west- 
wardly, emptying into the Caney Fork. The rapidity of 
all the streams of the county increases towards their mouths. 
Waterfalls characterize nearly all of them, the falls always 
occurring where the streams cut down through the black 
shale, which being soft and easy of disintegration soon gives 
way under the force of the water, while the hard siliceous 
rock lying above resists erosion for a great while. Many 
of these waterfalls, especially in White and DeKalb 
counties, are beautiful. 

CLAY COUNTY, 

This county, next to Overton, shows the greatest num- 
ber of oil indications. It is about 30 miles in length, with 
an average breadth of twelve miles. 

Geology and Topography. — These features of the county 
are easily described. Imagine a plain with a rolling surface, 
nearly level in the west. Imagine this plane cut from 
northeast to southwest by a deep valley a half mile wide 
and four hundred feet deep. This would represent the 
Valley of the Cumberland. Opening into the Cumberland 
Valley on the eastern side is the long, winding valley of 
Obey's river, with a general direction from east to west. 
A number of smaller streams with valleys of their own, 
extending outward at nearly right angles to the river, with 
their ramifications, cut up this plane into innumerable 
winding spurs, pointing to the river like the teeth of a saw. 
These ramifications of valleys run back among the high- 
lands, gently rising toward their source. These valleys are 
always skirted by hills, ranging from 100 to 300 feet in 
height. Many of the creeks are short and enclosed always 
by high bordering ridges. So numerous are the breaks 
that some have doubted whether they have been produced 
by erosion, but think they mark the courses of the great 



38 OIL REGION 

cracks formed in the underlying rocks as they were hard- 
ening or shrinking or yielding to the forces ot subsidence 
and upheavals during the unstable period of geological 
eras. With this opinion I cannot agree. The rocks are 
approximately horizontal. A few gentle curves are met 
with here and there, forming anticlinals and synclinals, but 
at no place do these depressions correspond with the pro- 
foundly eroded surface. Indeed, it often occurs that no dis- 
turbance of strata is exhibited where the gorges are deepest. 
At some few places there are signs of considerable disturb- 
ance. Near the mouth of Ashburn's creek the strata all 
dip northwardly at an angle of some five degrees, and fis- 
sures appear in the Cincinnati limestone from which petro- 
leum issues. The point of the greatest disturbance with 
which I have met in Middle Tennessee is in Jackson 
county, near the head of Flynn's creek. Here the rocks 
are tilted so as to be almost perpendicular, and still further 
down the creek there is a drop of 200 feet, which covers 
probably 50 acres. The black shale on the south side of 
the creek is elevated 200 feet above it on the north side, 
where it comes down and the water of the creek runs over 
it for half a mile to old Antioch Church. A short distance 
from this it appears on the side of the hill in its original 
geological horizon. 

Beginning at the heads of these valleys, we find the lower 
carboniferous rocks, including the St. Louis limestone and 
the barren group of the Siliceous formation. These two 
groups are about 400 ieet thick. Below comes the black 
shale, 25 feet thick, and then the Cincinnati or Nashville 
rocks of the lower Silurian, through which the Cumberland 
has cut about 80 feet at Celina. At Celina the black shale 
is 78 ieet above the river. At Burksville, in Kentucky, it 
is 125 feet. At Gainsboro Landing, in Jackson county, it 
is 332 feet. This shows a gradual dip eastward from 
Gainsboro and southward from Burksville. 

Many of the high hills in the county are capped by a 



OF TENNESSEE. 39 

soft, fine grained, yellowish sandstone, light and porous 
This sandstone is 25 feet thick at Burksville, in Kentucky. 
In Clay and Jackson counties it is rarely over six or 
eight feet thick. At places the Keokuk shales replace the 
entire Siliceous group, notably so at many places on Obey's 
river and its tributaries, Eagle crt^ek and Ashburn's creek. 

Soils. — The soils of this county will average better than 
those of Overton or Putnam, though the surface is so cut up 
by gorges and stream beds that a large amount of land 
can never be subjected to profitable tillage. Nevertheless, 
these rolling lands could be converted into pastures. In 
the eastern part of the county there are high hills which 
are the sloping ends of the spurs from the Cumberland 
table-lands. 

The surface is broken, caves and sink-holes are common; 
and the soil is rich, lying on a strong clay subsoil. The 
hills and hollows, except where the land has been cleared, 
are covered by forests of large trees, among which walnut, 
beech, poplar, buckeye, linden and several kinds af oaks 
are common. Further west the Lithostrotion limestone 
continues to underlie the surface, often cropping out on the 
hillsides ; the country is rolling, and the soil is generally a 
rich dark brown loam, with a red clay subsoil. North of 
Obey's river the red clay and limestone prevail to the valley 
of the Cumberland, and even west of the latter there are ex- 
tensive areas of red rolling lands reaching nearly to the 
western boundary of the county. All of this red land is 
naturally rich, and with good management its fertility will 
never be impaired. Even when worn out by slovenly 
farming and constant cropping, its recuperative power is 
wonderful. Hickory, beech, sugar maple and dogwood are 
common on the hillsides and in the hollows or basins, and 
oak and chestnut on the hills and ridges. These red lands 
occupy a larger proportion of the area of the county than 
any other one class. Though not held in such high esteem 
as the river and creek bottoms, they possess many ad van- 



40 OIL REGION 

tages over them. In other parts of this highland plain, 
particularly in the south -and west, sandstones prevail, and 
the lands are less fertile. The red clay gives place to a 
yellowish subsoil, which is so hungry that the effect of 
manuring is scarcely perceptible after the first or second 
season. In some places on the hills are extensive beds of 
siliceous chert, known locally as "bastard flint." These 
gravelly soils are always leachy. Most of the timber con- 
sists of small posts oaks and black oaks. But even in these 
parts red clay and limestone, affording good lands, are found 
in spots. Small hickories are the prevailing timber in such 
places, and they are generally called "hickory barrens." 
In the north-west part of the county, on the head waters of a 
creek which flows north-west into Barren river the surface is 
more generally level, and there are some fine lands. In the 
valleys, the prevailing rocks are limestones of a different kind 
from that which appears on the surface of the highlands. 
They belong, geologically, to the Nashville Group of the 
Lower Silurian, consequently the soils are like those in the 
Central Basin. This limestone underlies all the valleys and 
outcrops on the sides of the hills about half way up on each 
side. It is highly fossiliferous, and by disintregation is con- 
tinually adding to the fertility of the soil. In the valleys of 
the creeks, and also to some extent in the larger valleys, the 
soils have been modified by drift which comes down from 
the surrounding hills, so that they contain a larger propor- 
tion of sand than the same kind of soil otherwise situated. 
This sand mixed with the calcareous and argillaceous 
materials furnished by rocks, makes a very mellow, friable 
loam. Most of the creeks bring down also large quantities 
of chert, which gives a gravelly character to the soil where 
it is deposited. This gravel, however, rarely reaches out 
into the larger valleys in sufficient quantity to impair their 
quality. In the beds of all the creeks this chert is found in 
immense quantities. All along Cumberland and Obey's 
rivers there are alluvial bottoms of considerable extent. 



OF TENNESSEE. 41 

These are naturally the richest lands in the county. The 
fluviatile deposits brought down by the river renew every 
year the waste of the soil, and some of these soils have for 
more than a half a century continued to produce crops of 
corn every year with no manure, and without any decrease 
in the amount produced. But there are some disadvan- 
tages to counterbalance these good gifts. Fences are 
often carried away by high water. Not unfrequently, 
when the fields are ready to be planted, a sudden freshet in 
a few hours obliterates the work of many days, and in some 
cases growing crops are destroyed by an unseasonable over- 
flow. 

Valleys. — In this connection, a particular description of 
some of the principal valleys may not be out of place. The 
largest and most important is that of Cumberland river. 
The part included in Clay county is fifteen miles long, with 
an average breadth of a little more than one mile. 
Crossing the State line a little east of north from Celina, it 
extends obliquely across the county in a direction rather 
more south than west. The numerous smaller valleys 
opening into it give to the encarpments on either hand a 
serrated character. The river meanders through the valley, 
often crossing from side to side, and many towering cliffs 
rise perpendicularly from the water's edge to the height of 
several hundred feet. In passing up or down the valley by 
land, it is necessary either to cross the river many times or 
to pass over the bluffs by rugged, toilsome roads. Obey's 
river valley is, in its general character, similar to that of the 
Cumberland, except that it is smaller. Reckoning from a 
few miles above the mouth of Wolf river, where it properly 
begins, it meanders first west south-west, and then a little 
north of west, to the center of the county, where it opens 
into the Cumberland Valley at Celina. Following its ser- 
pentine course, the distance is perhaps thirty miles or more, 
but in a direct line, not exceeding twenty. It has an aver- 
age breadth, between the bases of the hills, of one-half to 



42 OIL REGION 

three quarters of a mile. Mill creek has a fine valley com- 
ing in on the cast side below Celina. It is eight miles 
long, and average nearly half a mile in width. Iron's 
creek valley, having about the same dimensions, comes in- 
to Obey's from the south, in the eastern part of the county. 
The line of the proposed Southwestern Eailroad passes 
through this valley. Kettle creek valley comes into 
Cumberland from the north-west near the State line, about 
three miles of the lower end being in this county. It has 
an avereage breadth of half a mile. There are a number 
of less important valleys, all of which contain good farms. 
Of these, Mitchell's creek, Proctor's creek, and Brimstone 
are the largest. 

JACKSON COUNTY. 

This county, lying below Clay county, on the Cumber- 
land river, is in every respect geologically and topograph- 
ically like Clay county, with few exceptions. The hills are 
more rounded, and the^erosion has been deeper. The black 
shale appears higher on the hills, and the Cincinnati rocks 
have a wider expanse. Much more of it is in cultivation, 
and the streams are more numerous. 

There are more outcropping rocks, in some respect due to 
bad tillage. In consequence of the large number of streams 
there is less plateau country, though a considerable scope of 
this is to be found in the southeastern corner, adjoining Put- 
nam county, also a few square miles in the northwest corner. 
The remainder of the county is grooved deeply by streams, 
some of them having extensive and valuable tracts of bot- 
tom lands. The sloping hills furnish a fertile soil, which, 
with proper treatment, might be made very profitable. 
Seeded to blue grass these hills could be made sources of 
countless wealth in the rearing of cattle and sheep, but in- 
judicious cultivation is fast denuding them of the surface 
soil, and leaving them sterile, presenting an aspect barren 
in the extreme. 



OF TENNESSEE. 43 

In coming from the direction of Cookville, over the 
plateau region, to the head of Flynn's creek, we find a flat; 
well wooded country, moderately fertile, soils siliceous and 
clayey ; identical in character with the clay lands of Putnam 
and Overton counties, and, indeed, a continuation of them* 
Descending the valley of Flynn's creek an excellent 
opportunity presented itself for making a section of the 
formations. Beginning at the top we have : 

1. Siliceous rocks, chert and clay 25 feet. 

2. Keokuk shales 37| feet. 

3. Black shale 18 feet. 

4. Blue and gray, violet and buff colored shales, 

calcareous . 10 feet- 

5. Layers of soft sandstone, interstratified with 

black earthy material 10 feet. 

6. Shales, buff colored limestone, weathering 

easily 18 feet. 

7. Hard bluish limestone, abundantly filled 

with orthis lynx and remains of cryptoceras 

undutum 20 feet. 

In all to bed of stream 138 J ft. 

The limestones here abound in caverns. The rocks are 
fissured in an unusual degree. A mile below the head of 
the stream the extraordinary disturbance in the strata,which 
I have already mentioned, begins. There are numerous 
plaitings and foldings forming sharp curves and wrinkles on 
the left of the stream. Lower down on the right the dip 
in the strata is as great as sixty degrees, though the plait- 
ings disappear/ and this extends for half a mile. At the 
end of this disturbance there is a fault by which the strata 
are dropped 200 feet, but retaining their horizontality. 
The line of fault is distinct in Cub hollow, near Antioch 
Church, and can be traced all the way up the side of the hill 
It crosses the hollow at right angles, the black shale lying 
side by side with the Nashville rocks. 



44 OIL REGION 

Another region of great disturbance is found on the op- 
posite side of Cumberland river, on Wartrace creek. Here 
on the lands of Dr. A. M. Ferguson and L. H. McCarver, 
are upheavals, extending over forty acres. Great hog back 
ridges occur and appear to drip towards a common centre. 
Near this place, and lying at the foot of a long rocky spur^ 
which points down towards Wartrace creek is a singular 
outcropping of quartzose sandstone covering an extent of 
five or six acres. The line separating this sandstone from 
the Nashville rocks can be traced with great distinctness on 
two sides. It resembles in every particular the coarser 
sandstones of the Cumberland Mountain, though, perhaps, 
not so much stained with the oxide of iron. It is of a 
slightly grey color, and would doubtless make a good sand 
for the manufacture of glass. 

Leaving out the Cumberland, Roaring river is the largest 
stream in the county. It flows in a westerly direction 
through the eastern half of the county. It is bordered by 
fine rich bottoms from three hundred to eight hundred 
yards wide. These bottoms are overlooked by abrupt hills 
and ridges, rising from three hundred to four hundred feet 
above the stream bed. During a rainy season it becomes a 
very impetuous stream, overflowing the low lands, and of- 
tentimes covering extensive tracts of arable land with sand 
and gravel. In these overflows the river frequently cuts 
out new channels through the bottoms, the banks being very 
unstable and yielding. The soil of these bottoms is of a 
superior character, yielding abundant crops of corn, wheat, 
and hay. The average yield of corn is said to be fifty bush- 
els per acre. The soil on the slopes of the bounding ridges, 
derived mainly from the disintegration of the Nashville 
limestones is largely intermingled with the cherty material 
that tumbles down from the overlying siliceous rocks. The 
slopes are often rugged with projecting layers of limestones. 
At a point six miles above its mouth I measured one of 
these bounding hills and found it to be three hundred and 



OJ TENNESSEE. 45 

thirty-five feet high, the Nashville limestone extending up- 
ward for two hundred and sixty feet, after which there were 
twenty-eight feet of black shale, capped by the siliceous 
group. 

Blackburn's Fork, the largest tributary of Roaring 
river, except Spring creek, rises in Putnam county, and 
flows north, emptying into Roaring river, six miles above 
its mouth. The hills press close down to the water's edge 
on this stream, but it furnishes some valuable w r ater privi- 
leges. The rocks dip locally in many places. At the old 
salt well, some two miles from the mouth of the stream, 
there is a gentle synclinal. This well was bored at first to 
the depth of one hundred and fifty feet in the Nashville 
rocks, and oil is said to have covered the drill. It was then 
sunk 199 feet and six inches, and strong salt water ob- 
tained. The salt manufactured from this water was not 
good, being tainted with the smell of petroleum. Six miles 
above the salt well are some beautiful falls, much resem- 
bling Waterloo Falls heretofore described. The water falls 
within a distance of thirty yards, sixty-five feet. The black 
shale here is twenty-six feet thick. Under the sheltering 
rocks of the precipice below the falls are found incrusta- 
tions of alum and copperas in great abundance. These falls 
are on the lands of M. W. Cummins, and if utilized would 
make water power sufficent to propel any desirable quantity of 
machinery. A fall of seventy-five feet could be secured for 
a turbine wheel by^working down the bluff on the northern 
eide. Above the falls the water is very swift, falling twenty- 
four feet within the distance of a mile. 

A section taken at the falls shows : 

Surface 3 feet. 

Siliceous limestone 66 feet. 

Black shale 26 feet. 

Nashville rocks 35 feet. 

Total height 147 feet. 



46 OIL REGION 

Bowerman's branch rises in the highlands, flows south, 
and empties. into Blackburn's Fork, a short distance below 
the falls. This stream has some good water power though 
small. The streams on the south side of the river, begin- 
ning on the east that empty into the Cumberland are Roar- 
ing river, Morrison's creek, Doe creek, Flynn's creek, 
and Martin's creek. Those entering the Cumberland on 
the north, beginning on the east, are Jenning's, Hensley's; 
Cub, Bullard's, Indian, Wartrace and Salt Lick. They 
all have a general direction southeast, and have, with 
one exception, the same characteristics; that is to say they 
rise in the highlands, and scoop out deep valleys in the lime- 
stone with lofty ridges between. The bottoms on the streams 
constitute the best farming land in the county. Corn, oats, 
wheat, tobacco, clover, and the grasses constitute the princi- 
pal crops. A comparatively small amount of ridge land is 
cultivated. These ridge lands are well adapted to fruit. 
The severe winter of 1876-77 destroyed all the peaches, 
and nearly all the peach trees in the low lands, but upon 
the ridges the trees literally broke down under the heavy 
weight of fruit. A fine quality of tobacco is also made 
upon the ridges, but not so many pounds are raised to the acre. 
Wheat also has a stiffer straw, owing to the predominance of 
siliceous matter in the soil. The following will show the 
comparative production and prices of the two classes of 

soil : 

Valley Land. 

Wheat 10 bushels 

Corn 40 bushels 

Tobacco 900 pounds 

Hay 1 J ton , 

Potatoes, Irish 75 bushels 100 bushels. 

Oats 30 bushels 20 bushels. 

Price of lands §30 to |40 $2 to $6. 

Jennings creek presents some singular features that de- 
serves mention. The valley will average three-quarters of 



Ridge Land. 


6 bushels. 


20 bushels. 


500 pounds. 


} ton 



OF TENNESSEE. 47 

a mile, from the foot of the hills. The stream bed is filled 
with sand and debris to such an extent as to absorb the 
whole volume of water in a few days after the heaviest 
rains. One may ride for half a day up the stream bed in 
summer without seeing a single pool of water. These sands 
shift from side to side, making torrid desolations totally un- 
fit for agricultural purposes, amounting to nearly one-third 
of the whole valley. The remainder of the valley lands are 
considered the most valuable in the county, and sell for 30 
or 40 dollars per acre. The fertility of the bottom lands 
are preserved by the washings from the hillsides. 

FENTEESS COUNTY. 

Fentress county resembles Overton in its main features, 
though a large proportion of it belongs to the Cumberland 
Table-land. The whole of the eastern half belongs to the 
carboniferous formation and forms and extensive plateau 
with open pine woods, where the wild grasses grow in prod- 
igal profusion during the summer months. The stream a 
flow in " rocky gulfs," varying in size and depth according 
to the size of the stream. The soil in other portions of the 
county is sandstone, loose, porous, leechy and unproductive, 
chiefly valuable for fruit, timber and highway pasturage. 
The western half is much serrated by bold spurs and in- 
tervening valleys or "coves," and generally marked by a 
broken line of sandstone or conglomerate cliffs. From the 
base of these, there is a steep declivity cut in many places 
by deep ravines, and mostly covered with loose masses of 
rock. The terrace, which is a characteristic feature of the 
western aspect of the mountain in White and Van Buren, 
is not so distinctly marked in Fentress, but the spurs pro- 
jecting between the valleys of the principal creeks and 
rivers occupy much of the county's area. These spurs 
have the same elevation as the terrace, which is about half 
the height of the Table-land. In places, however, there 
are bold rocky hills rising high above other parts of the 



48 OIL REGION 

range, and sometimes reaching an elevation equal to the 
Table-land. The tables of these spurs are, in places, sev- 
eral miles wide, and there are some good farming lands on 
them. This is especially jtrue in the neighborhood of the 
limestone knobs spoken of above. The lower slope, both of 
the main mountain and the spurs, are often steep and 
broken, but not generally so rocky as above. They are 
generally covered with heavy forests of valuable timber, 
but cleared fields are occasionally met with. It is a difficult 
matter to trace the line which marks the base of the moun- 
tain. Unlike the escarpment above, there is no line of 
bold bluffs — no natural boundary, but the smaller spurs run 
out into hills and gradually melt aw T ay into the general 
level of the Highland Rim. The valleys lie between the 
projecting spurs, occupying, in the aggregate, about one- 
fourth of the area of the county. There is considerable 
variety in the surface and soil. In some places are exten- 
sive bottoms, while in others an undulating surface with a 
red clay soil predominates. Taking the valleys altogether 
as one natural division, we think that about two-thirds of 
the area is clay upland, while the other third is divided 
about equally between the coves and bottoms. Most im- 
portant of these is the valley of Wolf river. Reckoning 
from the place where the Three Forks unite to form 
Wolf river, where it has a breadth of three miles, it ex- 
tends north-westwardly, spreading out ten miles wide seven 
miles lower down, and then grows narrower again. Its en- 
tire length in this county, is fifteen miles. The Three 
Forks of Wolf is famous far and wide for the fertility of 
its soil. Each of the three forks has a valley of its own. 
That of Main Fork is about four miles long, and from a 
quarter to a half mile wide. Middle Fork valley is about 
the same size, while that of Rottin's Fork is somewhat 
smaller. In all of them there are excellent lands. The 
valley of East Fork is the largest in the county. The 
head of it in the southwestern part of the county, is very 



OF TENNESSEE. 49 

narrow, being nothing more than a "gulf" deep and rug- 
ged, and hemmed in by the almost precipitous mountain sides. 
But farther north, it gradually expands until it gains a 
width of six miles. Its length is about twenty-five miles. 
The river runs in a deep channel, while the surface of the 
valley is undulating, with good red clay soil. The lower 
slopes of the ridges, on either hand, are fertile, and in some 
places not too rugged to be cultivated. Indian creek, a 
tributary of East Fork, has a valley six miles long, by half 
a mile wide, similar in its general character to the larger 
valley of which it is an outlier. There are a number of 
minor valleys, lying between the various spurs and ridges, 
of which Dry creek valley is most important. It is three 
miles long, by an average width of five eighth of a mile. 



50 OIL REGION 



CHAPTER III. 



OIL SPRINGS ON THE UPPER CUMBERLAND. 



HISTORY OF OIL DEVELOPMENT IN THAT REGION, WITH 
RECORDS OF WELLS. 

We have thus given a general outline of the principal 
geological and topographical features of the counties on the 
Upper Cumberland that is known to be oil producing. 
We propose now to enter into a detailed account of the oil 
indications, giving a record of the wells which have been 
bored in this region and with what success. 

Oil on Spring Creek. — The place where the most suc- 
cessful boring have been made for petroleum is on Spring 
creek, a tributary of Roaring river. This stream rises in 
Putnam county, and flows in a northwesterly direction, 
forming for a considerable distance the disputed boundary 
between Overton and Putnam counties. The wells were 
bored one mile above the point where the public road lead- 
ing from Cookville to Livingston crosses the stream, ten 
miles northeast of Cookville, and about the same distance 
south of Livingston. The distance from this point to 
Butler's Landing, the nearest accessible point to Cumber- 
land river, is nineteen miles, and the distance to Gainsboro 
the county seat of Jackson county is twenty-five miles. 

The following-section taken in the region around the oil 
wells at Spring Creek, by Dr. Safford, but since corrected to 
correspond with the result of the borings, will serve to il- 
lustrate the geological, lithological, and paleontological fea- 
tures of this section. The section given is really a combin- 
ation of two sections, so as to include both the car- 
boniferous, and the subcorboniferous formations. 



OF TENNESSEE. 



51 



o 
O 



SECTION AT SPRING CREEK, OVERTON COUNTY. 

(3) Sandstone, on a high point south of the road. 
Thickness ? 

(2) Shales, a heavy bed, with clay iron stones. 
This, with the sandstones, was estimated 
to be 130 feet. 

(1) Sandstone, upper part thin-bedded or shaly. . .120 feet. 
In all 250 feet? 

10) Blue Limestone,.' 4 feet. 

(9) Variegated Shale, brown, gray, and green... 12 feet. 

(8) Shale and Marl, mostly gray, with some brown 
and green at top ; at intervals some thin 
layers harder than others 40 feet. 

(7) Argillaceous Limestone, dull bluish gray, 
breaking with conchoidal fracture ; has 
cavities containing dolomite, 27 feet. 

(6) Blue Limestone, fossiliferous, 22 feet. 

(5) Argillaceous Limestone, resembling 7, above, 
but more compact, and somewhat fossilifer- 
ous 20 feet. 

(4) Blue Limestones, 85 feet. 

(3) Shales, 6 feet 

(2) Sandstone, fine-grained, more or less flaggy, . . 48 feet. 
(1) Blue Limestone, fossiliferous. 168 feet. 

Entire thickness 432 feet. 



H 

O . 
K Q 



3 I 

•<s> I 



6 S 

Pi O 



(2) Cherty Limestone, limestone not seen ; chert 

abundant on the surface 128 feet. 

(1) Limestone, impure, of water-lime aspect, lower 
part containing sparry blue layers; con- 
tains Lithostrotion Canadense 75 feet. 

In all. 203 feet. 

Sandstone, fine-grained, seen at a number of 

points in Overton and Putnam, 8 feet. 

Limestone, blue, fetid, rather coarse, fossiliferous 

and crinoidal, seen 45 feet. 

Rocks penetrated by the boring of the Jackson 

Well ; many layers chert, 216 feet. 

In all, 269 feet. 

Black Shale, resting on the Nashville Formation. . . 35 feet. 



52 



OIL REGION 



The wells are sunk near the eastern margin of Spring 5 
creek, in a low flat place, inclined to be swampy. A wide 
expanse of rolling lands spreads out eastwardly for about 
three miles. On the south a bold spur comes up within a 
few hundred yards of the wells with considerable gorges on 
each side. On the northeast also, and on the west, consid- 
erable elevations are seen, the sides of which show thick 
ledges of the St. Louis limestone. Lower down the lime- 
stones become very flinty and hard, and filled with horizon- 
tal crevices. The elevated points around the wells are from 
fifty to one hundred feet high. The entire valley is about 
three and a half miles long, by three quarters of a mile 
wide, embracing the valley of Spring creek, and Hurri- 
cane, its tributary, which empties near the wells. The fol- 
lowing cuts will show the geographical features about the 
wells and the geological section. 



SECTION OF THE HOOSIER WELL NO. 1, SPRING CREEK. 



en 



Surface. 



CD 



Sand. 

Sulphur Wtfter. 



Oil crevice, flowed 30 barrels per day. 



Oil flowed 110 barrels per day over 3 years. 



ui 



9 

6 

c 

■73 



<^» Oil shows. Black shale 35 feet thick. 



® Cincinnati or Nashville, Term, 



Bottom of well — immense gas vein. 



OF TENNESSEE. 
MAP OF KEGION AROUND SPRING CREEK. 



53 




NAMES OF WELLS. 



No. 1. Hoosier Well No. 1. 

n U it ey 

3. " " 3. 

4. Newman's Well. 

5. Douglas Well 

6. Pedrick Well, No. 1. 



No. 7. Pedrick Well No. 2- 

8. " " 3. 

9. Hequemberg Well. 

10. Roche Well. 

11. Jackson's Well. 

12. Netherland P. O. 



13. H. L. Taylor's Well. 



The first company began work on the McNeal farm, 
which forms a portion of the valley, on the 27th September, 
1865. This well, known as the Newman well, was bored to 
the depth of nineteen feet, near an oil seep, from which oil 



54 OIL REGION 

had been exuding from time immemorial. Oil in a small 
quantity was struck at this distance, and the work aband- 
oned until April, 1866, when the operations were resumed, 
under the superintendence of Col. Chas. H. Irvin. The 
well was deepened to twenty-six feet, and 2,600 barrels of 
oil pumped out. Sulphur water accumulated, and the well 
was abandoned until November, 1866, when it was drilled 
to the further depth of 51 feet 7 inches. At this depth the 
oil flowed out in great quantities, coming out in a terrible 
rush, and rising in a column thirty feet high. Thousands 
of barrels were lost, and it is said to have filled up a natur- 
al basin near the well, so as to be deep enough to swim a 
horse. The well continued to flow for three months. 
Twelve months afterwards the well was pumped, and six 
hundred barrels taken out. It was abandoned for a 
year, and then sunk to the depth of one hundred and 
twenty-six feet, when gas was struck, and the well perma- 
nently abandoned. 

The next well was drilled on the Buck farm, lying on 
Hurricane creek, about three-fourths of a mile from the 
last. It was known as the Jackson well. This was bored 
530 feet deep. 

A section of the well showed : 

Alluvial soil 7 to 9 feet. 

Flinty limestone 165 feet. 

Black shale 35 feet. 

Cincinnati rocks 293 feet. 

Total 530 feet. 

A good show of oil was obtained at the depth of one 
hundred feet, but the rush of water was so great that no 
pumping was attempted. 

The next was the Douglass well. This was bored sixty 
feet east of the Newman well. At twenty-two feet it 
yielded forty barrels of oil and was then abandoned. 



OF TENNESSEE. 55 

The next was the Hoosier well, No. 1, on the Douglass 
farm. Work was begun on this well in the spring of 1866. 

On the I3th of November, a strike of thirty barrels per 
day of forty-two specific gravity, was made. Depth fifty- 
two and a half feet. This supply continued for four weeks 
when the big strike, heretofore mentioned, was made in the 
Newman well which shut off the supply. Pumping was 
continued for four weeks, but no additional oil obtained. It 
was subsequently bored to the depth of sixty-nine feet and 
8 inches and 110 barrels per day taken out. This supply 
continued for two years and three months, whenever 
pumped, but the difficulty of transportation made the 
pumping very irregular. Strong salt water came up with 
the oil. The product of this well was very light, sixty per 
cent being illuminating oil. Afterward the well was put 
down three hundred and five feet, striking the black shale 
at one hundred and seventy-two feet (the surface of this 
well was lower than the Jackson well). Gas was struck 
and the well abandoned. After two or three months the gas 
quieted down, but again came up when an attempt was 
made to deepen the well. 

Hoosier well, No. 2, 110 feet east of No. 1, was also 
bored on the Douglass farm. At the depth of 55J feet oil 
was struck, and twenty-five barrels a day were taken out. 
This well remained constant until work was abandoned at 
the place in 1871. 

Hoosier well, No. 3, also on the Douglass farm, was sunk 
350 feet north of No. 2, and 330 feet east of the Newman 
well. At 53 J feet oil was pumped out at the rate of 160 
barrels per day. It continued to yield oil at this rate until 
it was deluged by the breaking in of sulphur water, which 
ruined it. 

A well was bored on the Morton farm, the second above 
the Douglass farm. No oil was obtained at the depth to 
which it was bored, 72 feet. 



56 OIL REGION 

The Hequamberg well, on the same farm, yielded no oil 
at the depth of 40 feet. 

Pedreck well, No. 1, was sunk on the McNeal farm one 
hundred yards west of Hoosier well, No. 1. There was a 
good show of oil at fifty-four feet. It was carried to the 
deptlt of 126 feel Torpedoes were then introduced and 
exploded but with no effect. 

Pedreck well, No. 2, on McCullough's farm, two hundred 
yards west of No. 1, showed signs of oil at fifty-four feet. 
Torpedoes used with no resulting benefit. This well was 
bored on the west side of Spring creek. 

Pedreck well, No. 3, on the McNeal farm, one-fourth of 
a mile north of the Newman well, was sunk 130 feet but no 
oil obtained. 

All these wells were bored within an area of 150 acres, 
and the productive wells could have been enclosed in an 
area of four acres. 

Two facts stand out with distinctness in the records of these 
wells : 

1. The area of oil was very confined. 

2. The oil was all obtained above the black shale, and 
was stored away in the crevices of the siliceous limestones. 

In many portions of the oil region of Tennessee this si- 
liceous limestone is filled with cavities, varying in size from 
a few inches in diameter to a foot or more. It is quite like- 
ly that the rocks about Spring creek, under ground, are 
perforated in a similar manner. 

SHIPMENTS FROM SPRING CREEK 1867-9. 

m 

Very little oil was shipped from the Newman well, 
though it poured forth in such volume as to astonish all 
beholders. It is estimated that from 12,000 to 15,000 bar- 
rels run out of this well and was lost. 



OF TENNESSEE. 57 

Dec, 1867. — From the Hoosier wells, Nos. 1, 2, and 3 
there were saved : 

Crude oil shipped 365 barrels. 

Filled and not shipped 135 " 

Jan., 1868, from second strike: 

There were 231 runs of 14 barrels each 3284 " 

Other shipments by railroad and river 1433 

Twenty-four runs from large shute, of 50 bar- 
rels each, refined 1200 

July, 1869.— From well, No. 2, Hoosier 308 " 

From well No. 3 138 « 

Total product saved at Spring creek 6813 barrels. 

At the time of my visit, in April, 1877, the oil was 
bubbling up and forming a scum upon the old Newman 
well. A company had begun to bore in the hard siliceous 
limestone, a mile lower down Spring creek. This company 
penetrated to the depth of about sixty feet, but from some 
reason, which I am unable to give, suspended operations* 
For much of the information pertaining to the operations 
on Spring creek, I am indebted to Geo. Satterfield, who 
had charge of the business for a considerable period. 

Oil on West and East Forks and Obey's River. — Passing 
now in a northerly direction, through Livingston and be- 
yond some ten miles, on the waters of West Fork, we en- 
ter upon an oil region in every way promising of profitable 
results. The West Fork hews its way down through the 
St. Louis limestones, Waverly sandstones and Keokuk 
shales. The bluffs rise, for the most part abruptly from the 
water's edge, with occasionally narrow strips of bottom 
land. The stream is one of great rapidity. 

Roger's farm, upon which the oil indications are most 
numerous, is within four miles of the mouth of West 
Fork. The bluffs on the river show a succession of 
wrinkles, and the limestones are soft and much eroded by 



58 OIL REGION 

atmospherical and plavial agencies. At places they are 
vesicular and cavernous. The hills are oftentimes sloping 
and covered by a coating of unctions clay. The following 
section was taken on the east side of the stream, just above 
where the oil indications are most numerous. 

SECTION AT KOGEIt's FARM ON WEST FORK. 

On high points above, back from the stream, sand- 
stone, fine-grained and buff colored 20 feet. 

Buff colored sandy limestone 6 feet. 

Gray crystalline limestone 79 feet. 

Calcareous shales, blue and gray 37 feet. 

Thin beds of bluish and buff colored limestones, in- 
clined to be shaly — some few sandy layers 113 feet. 

Sand and alluvial 6 feet. 

This last is a small bottom about 115 feet wide running 
up and down the stream. The sands of this bottom are 
thoroughly saturated with oil. By sinking a hole any 
where in this small strip, or in the bed of the stream, pe- 
troleum rises to the surface in brownish or bluish disks^ 
which float away on the surface of the stream. The bluish 
disks are beautiful in their irridescence, displaying in the 
light all the colors of the rainbow. At this place many 
gallons may be collected in a day. The oil-saturated sand 
extends for the distance of one hundred yards or more. On 
the east side of the stream, after ascending the bluff, there 
is a level plateau extending two miles or more eastward in 
the direction of East Fork. A considerable ridge then rises 
up the water-shed, between East and West Fork, succeeded 
by another plateau bordering East Fork. The ridge spoken 
of is made up of mo'untain limestone, capped by the lower 
sandstones of the coal measures. To the westward a like 
plateau, though higher, is covered with a yellowish porous 
sandstone, forming a thin unproductive soil. This contin- 
ues westward comparatively level for six miles, when it 
gradually rises into the towering heights of Pilot Mountain, 



OF TENNESSEE. 59 

which stands a prominent and striking landmark. This 
mountain pertains to the coal measures, though separated 
from the Cumberland table-land by an intervale of eighteen 
miles. 

At a point a little above the Koger farm, where the Liv- 
ingston and Jamestown road crosses West Fork, oil occasion- 
ally oozes out from the bank of the stream, and just below 
are several places where salt water comes from the bluffs, 
leaving a salty incrustation upon the face of the rocks. 

Below the Koger farm half a mile a saw-mill stands upon 
a short tributary stream, a few yards from West Fork. In 
blasting out rock at this place for the construction of a dam, 
oil was found in the pores and crevices of the rocks. Still 
lower down the stream and one mile above its union with 
East Fork, the mass of slimy mud on the side of the stream 
is thoroughly saturated with petroleum. By pushing a stick 
down in this mud, gas and petroleum ascend to the surface 
from the spongy mass. The very atmosphere at this place 
is redolent of petroleum, and one can scarcely touch the 
earth for a space of several hundred feet without having 
his olfactories offended by the odor of the oil. The forma- 
tions here agree precisely with those at the Koger farm. 
The Waverley sandstone appears on the heights above in 
some greater thickness, and one layer of sandstone a foot 
thick is found interstratified with the Keokuk slates, which 
here take the place of the siliceous rocks. 

Just below the junction of East and West Fork, about 
three quarters of a mile, a flow of oil comes out of the bed 
of Obey's river. This is on the lands of James Lacy. It 
is said that when the water is low the sand taken from this 
place is so saturated with oil as to make a bright flame. 

At Goose Neck Bend, up East Fork, three miles above 
its junction with West Fork, there is an oil spring, and sev- 
eral more are reported to exist higher up the stream on the 
lands of Peggy Smith and Matilda Wright. 

On both sides of the river at Lacy's farm the confining 



60 OIL REGION 

hills rise to an elevation of over three hundred feet. On 
the north is a solid and almost perpendicular bluff over- 
looking the river. On the south side there is a steep slope 
up to the plateau lands which are here margined near the 
top by sandstone, but this disappears a short distance from 
the edge of the bluffs, and the plateau extends southward 
to Pilot Mountain and westward to Eagle creek. 

One half mile below Lacy's another oil spring breaks 
out near the center of Obey\s river. The oil has been seen 
here for fifty years. 

Three miles further down, near the mouth of Franklin 
creek, oil is seen coming out of the bed of the river im- 
mediately under a bluff 300 feet high. The oil oozes out 
beneath thirty feet of black shale. The rocks above the shale 
at this point are filled with crinoidal stems in such abundance 
as almost to make up the mass. The oil here is lighter than 
that on West Fork and plays with its rainbow-hued disks 
upon the surface of the water. Between the mouth of 
Franklin creek and Lacy's farm the river cuts through the 
black shale. 

Franklin creek is in Fentress country, and runs west, 
emptying into Obey's river. It is about three miles long. 
One mile above its mouth there is a gravelly bar which is 
steeped in petroleum. By riding a horse in the stream at 
this place oil comes to the surface. The pebbles look as 
though they had been immersed in petroleum. The oil is 
above the black shale. The ascent from the mouth of the 
creek to this place is fifty feet or more. There are several 
long sags in the strata here, and greenish and bluish shales 
are seen in the overlooking bluff. This oil seep is near the 
ragged edge of the Cumberland mountain. Going east- 
ward three miles a seam of coal four feet thick crops out. 
It w T as worked for some time before the war. The coal is a 
hard block, and of excellent quality. A quantity of it taken 
out seventeen years ago is still marketable, so well has it re- 
sisted disintegration. 



OF TENNESSEE. 61 



OIL ON EAGLE CREEK. 



Near the mouth of Eagle creek there are many indica- 
tions of oil. Seeps occur at intervals from its mouth for 
six or eight miles up the stream. Eagle creek, as will be 
seen by reference to the general description of Overton 
county, rises five miles north of Livingston, flows north 
and northeast and enters Obey\s river, seven or eight miles 
below the mouth of West Fork. Its entire length in a 
straight line is about ten or twelve miles. It, like the other 
streams flowing into Obey ? s river, is walled in by bold 
bluffs of Keokuk shales and crinoidal limestones, which in 
this part of the oil region take the place of the siliceous 
beds. Near the mouth of Eagle creek the black shale is 
exposed and forms for a considerable distance the fissured 
bed of the stream. 

Three miles above is an oil exudation on the right side. 
A well was bored near this place in the spring of 1866 to 
the depth of sixty feet, which yielded thirty barrels of oil. 
The oil was much heavier than that obtained on Spring 
creek, and found a lodgment in the porous limestones of the 
Nashville or Cincinnati group that lie below the black 
shale. 

A second well was bored on the margin of the stream 
within a few feet of an oil seep, but no oil was found, al- 
though it was carried to a greater depth. The gas ejected 
the augers and drill from the well, and it was found impos- 
sible to continue the work. 

Betw r een this place and the mouth of the creek, and one 
mile above the mouth, two other wells were bored within a 
few inches of each other. These wells began on the black 
shale. Oil was found in both at the depth of fifty feet, but 
a larger supply at eighty feet. A considerable number of 
barrels, probably over a hundred, was obtained from this 
well, but the price of oil at the time got down so low that 
the transportation cost more than the oil was worth in the 



62 OIL REGION 

market, and the wells were abandoned. One of these wells 
was subsequently carried to the depth of 170 feet, but with 
no additional increase in the oil product. 

Still nearer the mouth and below the black shale another 
well was sunk 300 feet deep. A small quantity of oil with 
a large flow of salt water came out of this well. So great 
was the volume of the latter that it killed all vegetation in 
its course to the river. 

Just below the mouth of Eagle creek, on Robert's place, 
oil spurts out from the bed of Obey's river, and also at an- 
other point four miles below in the bed of a little branch 
on Jolly's farm. A well was sunk at this place and oil ob- 
tained. 

Returning to Eagle creek. Nine miles above its mouth 
Whites creek enters on the left. Thirty years ago a well 
was bored on this stream in search of salt water, and after 
boring 70 feet a large volume of oil is said to have run out, 
much to the disgust of the salt hunters. Just how long it 
continued to flow, no one knows, but tradition assures us 
it continued for years. 

Between the mouth of Eagle creek and the mouth of 
Ashburn's creek, eight miles below r , there is an extensive 
plateau, four or five miles wide and ten long. The forests 
are dense, the soil of medium fertility, and the surface cov- 
ered with fossils pertaining to the Lithostrotion bed of the 
sub-carboniferous. Wagon loads of the Lithostrotion Cana- 
dense may be gathered on this plateau. 

Near the mouth of Ashburn's creek, in Clay county, the 
rocks in the bed of the creek have a decided dip towards 
the north. They are much fissured, and oil is often made 
to rise to the surface by stirring the accumulated mud 
which fills the crevices. 

Numerous seeps occur in the margin of the stream for 
four or five miles above its mouth. The black &hale forms 
the bed of the stream a short distance above its mouth, and 



OF TENNESSEE. 63 

appears to be saturated in an unusual degree with petroleum. 
Sulphur and chalybeate springs abound. 

Salt water with some oil was obtained up a hollow a half 
mile below the mouth of Ashburn's creek, and one-fourth 
of a mile from Obey's river. The well was bored 178 feet 
deep, and about 10,000 bushels of salt were manufactured 
in the year 1867. Sixty gallons of water made a bushel of 
salt. The cost of making salt was 7 J cents per bushel, but 
bacon was then selling at 25 cents per pound, labor §1.50 
per day. It could now be made at 3 cents per bushel. 

Near the salt well, up a branching hollow, is an oil 
seep. The calcareous shales which here have a great thick- 
ness, are saturated with petroleum. Oil has been found 
oozing out at several places in the vicinity. 

Wolf river enters the Obey's a few miles below Ashburn's 
creek, but on the opposite side. Nearly opposite the mouth 
of Wolf river, a short distance below, the strata exhibit a 
beautiful synclinal, the length of which is probably a fourth 
of a mile. The rocks are grooved with a singular and 
pleasing regularity, making the bluff appear like the rock 
mouldings of an immense superstructure. Nearly opposite 
this synclinal Parsley's creek comes in from the north. Upon 
this is an oil spring. On Wolf river, a mile above its 
mouth, a well was bored 60 years ago for salt water. Tra- 
dition tells of a greenish, oily fluid, highly odoriferous, 
running down the river, which was set on fire, producing a 
terrible conflagation. 

Sulphur creek comes in also from, the north, three miles 
below the mouth of Wolf. Several oil springs occur on 
this stream, but within the State of Kentucky. A well was 
dug near the mouth of Sulphur forty years ago by Mr. 
Trousdale, and a large flow of oil obtained. 

At the mouth of Poor's branch, which enters Obey's 
river ten and a half miles above Celina, oil in low water is 
seen upon the surface. This comes from the Nashville 
rocks, the black shale appearing thirty-five feet above in 



64 OIL REGION" 

the bluff. Fossils abound in the limestone at this place. 
.Indeed, some of the layers appear to be little else than a bed 
of fossils solidified. They are chiefly the orthis lynx and 
ortMs sinuata. 

A well was dug near this place for domestic purposes, but 
the water was so impregnated with petroleum as to be unfit 
for use. 

On Mill creek, below Celina, a well was bored in 1868 on 
the farm of L. B. Butler. A considerable amount of oil 
was obtained at this point and shipped, but I was not able 
to ascertain the precise number of barrels. The oil from 
this well came from the Nashville or Cincinnati rocks. 

I have mentioned the oil spring on Franklin creek in 
Fentress county. Others are found on the western edge of 
that county in various places. There is a group of such 
springs near the mouth of Poplar Grove creek and several 
on East Fork, besides others reported, which are enough to 
confirm the existence of petroleum in this county. 

In Clay county, on Brimstone creek, which is near the 
line which separates this county from Jackson, there are 
several places where the oil exudes from the earth. 

In Jackson county, at Allen's mill on Blackburns Fork 
of Roaring river, oil is said to have been obtained in sink- 
ing a well for salt. 

On Mill creek, in Clay county, petroleum oozes out from 
the Nashville rocks. 

On Wartrace creek, in Jackson county, also, in boring for 
salt, solidified petroleum was met with in the cavities of the 
Nashville limestones. 

Just above the mouth of Jenning's creek, in the same 
county, a well was sunk on Buck's branch to the depth of 
forty-two feet, and some oil is said to have been obtained, 
though how much it was impossible to ascertain. 

I could hear of no oil indications in Smith county nor in 
DeKalb. 

I cannot close this chapter without returning my thanks 



OF TENNESSEE. 65 

to the citizens of Overton county for the deep interest they 
manifested in my investigations, and especially to J. S. 
Roberts, Esq., and J. W. Wright, who did not hesitate to 
leave their respective vocations, and guide me to most of 
the oil indications in the county. My obligations are also 
due to John McMillan, Esq., of Celina, for similar cour- 
tesies. 

5 



66 OIL fcJEGtOtf 



CHAPTER IV* 



TROUSDALE, MACON AND SUMNER COUNTIES, 



GEOLOGICAL. PHENOMENA— MILK SICKNESS — KNOBS — 
GLASS SAND — MILLSTONE GRIT— PASTURE LANDS- 
OIL ON trammel's CREEK, 

Trousdale county is thought to contain deposits of petro- 
leum. On Lick creek, a tributary of Dixon's creek, there 
are some interesting geological phenomena. The strata are 
exceedingly wavy, forming gentle synclinals from a fe\V 
hundred yards in length to a quarter of a mile. Two miles 
above the mouth of Lick creek a soft, fine-grained sandstone 
presents itself, brownish in color, very porous, and about 
twenty feet thick. It is easily broken and will absorb water 
like a sponge, the water penetrating every part of it in a 
short time, When first dipped in water a bluish film floats 
away from it much resembling petroleum, A well was 
bored a mile from this point four hundred feet deep, and 
water spouted out, rising above the tops of the trees, which 
ran into a mill-pond and destroyed all the fish, Deeper 
boring was attempted, but the auger became fastened in the 
crevice of a rock and the well was abandoned. 

In the bed of the creek near where the sandstone makes 
its appearance on Jo, DeBow's farm, the odor of petroleum 
when the water is low, is said to be very distinct, All this 
portion of Trousdale county, that is to say the northeastern 
corner, is very rough and cut up by deep hollows, and 
abounding in sharp-crested ridges from three hundred to 
four hundred feet high. The soil is very fertile, even on 



OF TENNESSEE. 67 

the slopes and crests of these highlands. The black shale 
occurs near the top, and the black chert lies thick upon the 
summits, so as to interfere to some extent with proper culti- 
vation, Many of these ridges resemble great railroad em- 
bankments, being very symmetrical and narrow, oftentimes 
just wide enough at top for a good road. 

On the ridge dividing Pumpkin creek from Lick creek a 
coarse quartzose sandstone is found in ledges about two hun- 
dred feet below the top of the ridge. But even where this 
sandstone prevails the soil is fertile, as is shown by the lux- 
uriant growth of pawpaw bushes and tangled masses of 
creeping vines. Beech, sugar tree, chestnut, chestnut oak 
and poplar constitute the prevailing timber. 

Northwest of Harts ville rises to the height of five hun- 
dred and forty feet above the Cumberland river, a series of 
bold knobs remarkable for their sandstone and mill-grit 
formation. These knobs are covered thickly with cane, 
through which it is almost impossible to walk. Forming 
the southern escarpment of one of these knobs is a great 
unstratified ledge of coarse-grained white sandstone about 
fifty feet thick. It stands out like a solid wall. The sand- 
stone is easily crushed, and has been tried by glass manu- 
facturers and pronounced of superior quality. 

The mill-stone grit lies just below the black shale in an 
adjacent knob. It pertains geologically to the Nashville 
•series of rocks, and consists of a mass of silicified .shells 
closely compacted. Where exposed the calcareous material 
has been leached out, leaving the mass cellular. The stra- 
tum is about seven or eight feet in thickness. The mill- 
stones made of this material are highly prked for grinding 
corn, the sharp points and edges cutting rather than crush- 
ing the grain, whereby its original sweetness is preserved. 
For some years the manufacture of these stones formed no 
unimportant branch of industry. 

Baryta is found in great quantities and of excellent qual- 
ity half a mile south of the blutf of sandstone. 



68 OIL REGION 

Galena is said to exist in considerable quantities in the 
county. I saw some excellent specimens of this ore said to 
have been obtained in the county. 

For pasturage these knobs would be unrivaled but for 
the presence of that inscrutable agent which produces milk 
sickness. Observations for a number of years here show 
that the largest number of cattle is attacked by it just after 
the first frost in autumn, and just before vegetation puts 
out in spring. From this circumstance it is supposed to be 
due to some plant that makes it appearance early in spring, 
and is hardy enough to resist the first frosts. 

Nature teaches us a lesson under the sandstone ledge, as 
to how soils may be improved. Great blocks have broken 
off and rolled down in the valleys. Constant erosion is go- 
ing on, the loosened sand commingling with the clayey 
soils in the valley. This has so ameliorated the soil on 
the slopes and in the valley that it produces the most boun- 
tiful crops. It is loose, easy to work, and its porosity 
prevents washes, while it enables the soil to preserve a 
due degree of moisture. Lime is also added from the lime- 
stones that underlie the sandstone, so that all the elements 
of fertility and amelioration are here presented. 

With the exception of the knobby portions, there is no 
county in the State blessed with a more productive soil 
than Trousdale. It is a blue-grass region, and its sloping 
hills and wide valleys should be carpeted with greensward, 
and covered with the finest breeds of sheep and cattle, 
attesting at once agricultural thrift and refinement of cul- 
tnre. It is a postive prostitution to sterilize these rich 
slopes by the culture of tobacco, The soil is not adapted 
to the growth of that weed. The quality produced is thin, 
papery, and almost destitute of nicotine, the active principle 
of tobacco. Nature has pointed out the tobacco regions of 
Middle Tennessee as clearly as she has defined the limits of 
the succeseful stock-grower. The Central Basin is essentially 
stock raising. No cotton or tobacco should ever be planted 



OF TENNESSEE. 69 

in it. To do so is like condemning a lady of winning 
address and refined culture to be the scullion of 
a kitchen. On the other hand, the clayey soils of the High- 
land Rim produce and very finest grades of tobacco, but 
they are not adapted to the grasses, or at least but poorly so, 
and even then to a few select varieties. To attempt to clothe 
our clay hills in blue-grass is like attempting to make a 
fine lady of the kitchen scullion. It will not last. Many 
a hill-side in Trousdale county has been ruined beyond re- 
demption by bad tillage, and is now not worth the taxes 
paid on it. The bare ledges of limestone rocks reflecting 
the glare and radiating the heat of the sun, make painful 
pictures in the landscape, and mark the want of true agri- 
cultural wisdom. Smith and Jackson counties tell the tale 
of the same sad treatment. Wherever these slopes have 
been seeded to blue-grass they make a picture of unsur- 
passed beauty, and become positive sources of wealth 
without the ceasless efforts of man. When once the rocks 
have been denuded of soil, as they have often been in these 
counties, fifty generations cannot replace it. Such hills re- 
main everlasting monuments of the folly of man. 

The true policy is to make these sunny slopes of perpet- 
ual value, by either leaving them in timber, or thinning 
out the trees and seeding to blue-grass, for which they are 
so well adapted. By this means the value of the lands in 
the county would be increased, the freshness aud beauty of 
the landscape enhanced, the profits and pleasures of the 
farmers enlarged, the system of earth-butchery arrested, and 
the present generation would not be held responsible for a 
devastation more alarming and more wide-spread than that 
produced by all the fires and storms and earthquakes and 
wars that have occured since the settlement of the State. 
The evil is the more dangerous because it is silent and in- 
sidious, though perpetual. The changes for the worse are 
so gradual and gentle that men come to look on them as 
they do upon the ereepings of old age; but unlike the latter, 



70 OIL REGION 

they may be arrested and arrested before the doom of 
poverty is entailed upon our children. The soil should 
never be so treated that each year makes it more difficult 
to live the next. This is not civilization, it is postive bar- 
barism. 

Some few indications of oil are found in Macon county. Near 
the Red Sulphur Springs it oozes out from the black shale 
formation. The county has more plateau land than Jackson. 
Indeed, nearly the whole of it belongs to the sub-carbonif- 
erous formation. Toward the north there is a wide area of 
level and gently undulating land. It inclines gently toward 
the north, sufficiently so to give a good flow to many of the 
head branches of Barren river. There are also inclinations 
to the east and south — numerous small streams flowing in 
these directions to the Cumberland river. On the west the 
highlands break off in steep declivities, which ran down 
into deep valleys exposing the Nashville rocks. The greater 
portion of the county is underlaid by the black bituminous 
Devonian shales, and sulphur springs abound in many places. 
The soil is usually ctayey and thin, but there are extensive 
areas of great fertility. The county is well wooded. 

Sumner county,. lying west of Macon, shows some signs 
of oil in a region of country lying upon Little Trammel! 
creek. Several oil wells were bored on this stream, some 
of them in Kentucky, and oil in small quantities was found 
in all of them at the depth of 30 feet. The daily product 
from the only one that was pumped, did not exceed two 
barrels. The entire production from this well was about 
200 barrels. This well was afterward sunk to the depth of 
500 feet with the hope of an increased yield, but no other 
source of supply was found. Gas and salt water w T ere found 
at 250 feet, the water coming up with great force, rising in 
a column fifty feet high. The gas and water filled an under- 
ground cavern, the augur dropping two feet just before the 
column of water began to flow from the well. The source 
of the supply was the black shale, the oil being struck near 



OF TENNESSEE. 71 

the bottom of that formation. The product was a very- 
heavy lubricating oil, which was used by the Louisville and 
Nashville Railroad Company, and said to be very superior. 
It sold for nearly double the price of the lighter oils. 

Some oil has been found in Davidson and Maury coun- 
ties, but not enough to justify expensive exploration. A 
company is now boring on Brown's creek, near Nashville, in 
search of oil, 



72 OIL REGION 



CHAPTER V. 



OIL IN DICKSON COUNTY. 



GEOLOGY — HISTORY OF OIL-WELLS — PRODUCTION, ETC. 

It remains to give some account of the oil operations west 
of Nashville, particularly in Dickson county. This county 
is so far removed from the oil region, of which Overton 
county is the centre, that I have not included it upon the 
map accompanying this report. Dickson county belongs to 
the same great natural division of the State that embraces 
the larger portions of Overton, Putnam, Clay, Jackson, 
White and Macon, that is to say, the Highland Rim. In 
nearly every respect, geologically, the county resembles 
Clay. It is a broad plain furrowed by numerous streams 
which cut down through the siliceous group of the sub- 
carboniferous rocks. There is this difference, however. In 
Dickson county in many places the lower member of the 
siliceous group presents itself as a pale yellowish porous 
sandstone. Sometimes great bluffs of this rock are seen 
along the water courses. Some slight traces also, of the 
Niagara rocks of the upper Silurian, under the black shale, 
are met with. The upper Silurian, as has been stated, is 
wholly wanting in Overton, Putnam, Clay and Jackson 
counties. In the western part of Sumner, and probably in 
Trousdale county, the Meniscus gray limestone of the Ni- 
agara epoch of the upper Silurian, is present in considerable 
volume, being estimated at about 120 feet in thickness, on 
the Gallatin and Glasgow turnpike, where it ascends the 
ridge and leaves the basin. 



OF TENNESSEE. 73 

On Jones' creek, in Dickson county, about seven miles 
north-west of White Bluff, a station on the Northwestern 
railway, three wells have been sunk on the farm of Mr. G. 
W.Brown, just below the black shale formation. These 
wells were bored about the same time (1866-69) when the 
developments before described in this pamphlet, were mak- 
ing in Overton county. The first was bored to the depth of 
187 feet, which only resulted in striking a fissure from which 
issued a copious flow of gas. It would have been bored 
deeper, but a part of the drill was lost, which it was found 
impossible to recover. Another well was then sunk, eleven 
inches from the one just mentioned, to the depth of 295 
feet. At this depth some oil was obtained, which flowed 
immediately after striking it, at the rate of thirteen barrels 
in a half an hour. The pumping apparatus was then applied 
and a considerable quantity of oil obtained, when finally it 
ceased flowing, but an uninterrupted flow of gas continued. 
The well was now abandoned and a third one sunk about 
fifty feet from the location of the two first. This was bored 
to the depth of 565 feet, and from it came the greater part 
of the oil obtained in this region. The fuel used in drill- 
ing the last mentioned well was the gas which issued from 
the second well sunk. No account was kept of the total 
amount of oil obtained, but from 200 to 300 barrels it is 
said were shipped to Nashville by railroad, where it was 
refined and sold. The gravity of the oil here is about 42°. 

Concerning the work at present at this place, the follow- 
ing may be stated : During the early spring, when the leas- 
ing of southern territory engaged the attention of northern 
operators, some persons from New Castle, Pa., re- leased this 
territory from those who succeeded the old company, and 
put up a rig which was completed about the middle of June. 
Since that time work has gone on gradually until my visit 
July 1. The well had been sunk to the depth of 68 feet. 
At the depth of about 57 feet gas was struck, which con- 



74 OIL REGION 

firms the facts relative to operations here in former years. 
The superintendent is very sure of getting a paying well, 
and holds that the rocks here are similar to those of the 
Pennsylvania region.* The formation is altogether different, 
though the lithological features of the valley may be some- 
what similar. The surroundings of the wells deserve a no- 
tice also. They are located at the mouth of a ravine which 
makes a decided indentation in the highlands, the foot of 
which is, barometric measurement, 230 feet below the general 
level of the rim-land plateau. The wells are about 150 
yards from the south bank of the creek, which winds its 
way in a general north-east direction, emptying into Big 
Harpeth. The creek at this place skirts the southern side 
of a beautiful little valley which comprises an area of about 
150 acres of very fertile land. It is hemmed in on all sides 
by the highlands, which form a wall 200 feet high, being 
broken apparently, only by the cove-like ravine at the foot 
of which the wells are located, and at the two points from 
which the stream makes its entrance and exit. 

Some indications of oil have been found in Hickman and 
Montgomery counties. In both counties some wells were 
sunk about ten years ago, but without any profitable results. 
In Hickman county the Meniscus limestone furnishes some 
oil. At Montgomery's mill, on Piney river, a black look- 
ing petroleum has been oozing from this formation for nearly 
half a century. It was first discovered in blasting out rock 
for the foundation of the mill. It is collected in small 
quantities for medicinal purposes. 

At Centreville oil oozes out in a drain near the base of 
the hill between that place and Duck river. It also ap- 
pears at the base of a hill on the south-east of Centreville, 
near the valley of Indian creek. 

Leases. — Nearly all the lands in the oil territory are leased, 
the lessee agreeing to pay from one-sixth to one-twelfth of 

*Oil was found August 25, 1877, at a depth of 445 feet. 



OF TENNESSEE, 75 

the gross production to the owner, and to begin operations 
within a specified time, varying from two to five years. 
Some few have refused to lease, but have signified their 
readiness to make a liberal arrangement with any one who 
is ready to begin work, and who will bring suitable appa- 
ratus for boring, 



76 



OIL REGION 



CHAPTER VI. 



OTHER RESOURCES OF THE OIL REGION. 



PRODUCTIVITY AS COMPARED WITH THE WHOLE STATE — 
TOBACCO — WOOL — GRASSES — IRON ORES — COAL — LEAD 
— WHETSTONE GRIT — MINERAL WATERS — WATER POW- 
ERS — LUMBERING TRADE, PRICE OF LUMBER, LABOR — 
LETTER FROM HON. J. D. GOODPASTURE. 

The soils have already been mentioned. Their capacity 
of production is very considerable. It is the general im- 
pression that all oil regions are barren and unproductive, 
but in this particular the Tennessee oil region is an excep- 
tion, as the following table will show : 



< H j 

O o E 
Ph g g § 




Corn 

Wheat 

Oats c 

Tobacco 

Wool 

Honey 

Sorghu m 

Animals sold for slaughter, value 

per capita of population 

Live stock, value per capita of 

population 

Sheep, number 

Swine 

Improved land 

Unimproved.... 



32 bush. 

5 " 

3 
17 pounds 

1 1-10" 
4-5 " 

1 gal. 

$13 



5 acres. 
10 acres. 



37 bush. 

3 " 

5 
30 pounds 

2 " 

2 " 

2 gals. 

$15 

$46 

2* 

6 acres. 
14 acres. 



OF TENNESSEE. 77 

The comparison is made between the whole State and the 
central portion of the oil region embracing four counties, 
Clay, Jackson, Overton and Putnam. 

Several important facts are brought out in this table. It 
will be seen that in all the staple farm products, with the 
exception of wheat, this region, in proportion to population, 
far outstrips the average for the State. The small amount 
of wheat grown is due to want of the means of transporta- 
tion. No effort is made by the farmers to raise more than 
is required for home consumption. It takes twenty cents 
per bushel to send wheat from the vicinty of Livingston to 
Cumberland river, and about the same to transport it to 
market at Nashville, so that when wheat is selling at the 
latter place for one dollar per bushel, the farmer near Liv- 
ingston realizes only sixty cents, without estimating any 
charges for commissions or storage. On soils making an 
average yield of ten or twelve bushels per acre, sixty cents 
per bushel would not De a reasonable compensation for the 
work expended in making the crop. , 

The production of oats and corn is far above the average. 
This is fed to hogs, cattle and mules, which are driven out 
on foot to market. 

Tobacco, as a money crop, presents a great many advan- 
tages for an inland county, because it brings more money, 
pound for pound, than any other farm product. This re- 
duces the expense of hauling. Two hogsheads of tobacco 
weighing 1,600 pound each, will require two days to get 
them to the river from a distance of twenty-four miles at a 
cost of eight dollars. The charges from the river to the 
warehouse in Nashville, is about four dollars each, making 
the total cost for putting a hogshead in market eight dollars. 
But an average hogshead of tobacco will bring $125, so 
that the cost of transportation is only one-sixteenth of the 
whole. The proportion between the cost of getting a hogshead 
of tobacco to market and the value of the tobacco, is less than 
for any other farm product. Overton, Putnam, Clay, and 



78 OIL KEGIOS 

a portion of Jackson, have suitable clayey soils for the rais- 
ing of this crop, and upon such soils it should be grown, 
but never upon soils that will produce blue^grass, nor upon 
soils easy to wash. 

Another article that might be produced with great 
profit is wool. The rolling surface of this region, the 
the sheltering hills, the wild grasses that spring up sponta- 
neously every where ) the adaptability of the soil for the pro- 
duction of the domestic grasses, particularly blue-grass, 
herds-grass^ orchard-grass and clover, and above all, the 
cheapness of the Jands^ point out this locality as one where 
sheep-raising and wool-grow ing might be carried on with 
great profit to the farmer and with benefit to the'soil. The 
number of sheep, under the operations of the much villified 
"dog-law T ," constantly increased, and a few more years 
under the benign protection of that law, would have seen 
the rolling heights and sheltered valleys of this section of 
our State covered with flocks whose " hoof is gold." The 
proportion of the number of sheep to population was just 
twice as much in 1870 as the average of the State. The 
number of sheep then reported for this district was over 
43,000. The number now is probably 55,000. 

It will be seen that though there are six acres of im- 
proved land for each inhabitant, there are fourteen unim- 
proved. The system of old and new field culture which is 
always practiced in a thinly settled region, is carried on to 
a great extent, particularly in Overton and Putnam coun- 
ties, not so much in Jackson and Clay. New fields are 
opened every year, and old fields are turned out to grow up 
in bushes and briers. There is no system of rotation or 
rest carried on. But few farmers pay any attention to ma- 
nures, or make any efforts to keep their soils in good heart 
by sowing clover or seeding to grass. Crop, crop, crop, is 
taken off year after year, suggestive of Hood's " stitch, 
stitch, stitch," until the poor victimized soil refuses longer 
to respond to the labor of the farmer. It is then cast aside 



OF TENNESSEE. 79 

as worthless. Yet there are no soils which show the effects 
of manure quicker, or upon which it will last longer than 
the clayey soils of Clay, Overton and Putnam* Hon. J. D. 
Goodpasture, in the year 1876, took the poorest field he 
had, which had, however, a good under-clay, broke it up 
deep, listed it and applied stable manure to the hill. He 
gathered fifty bushels of corn per acre from the field, ex- 
clusive of " nubbins." Judge W. W. Goodpasture made 
some experiments with hay a few years ago in Overton 
county, with excellent results. From four and a half acres 
sown in timothy and clover, he obtained at first cutting 
31,000 pounds of hay. At the second cutting the same 
season, 15^000 pounds were obtained, making in all for one 
season 46,000 pounds, or 26 tons, a little over five tons per 
acre. About equal parts of timothy and clover w 7 ere sown. 
The timothy and clover grew as high as a man's waist and 
was very thick on the ground. This crop was raised on 
land that had > as the phrase is, been "worn out/' and was 
considered poor land, Laving a clay sub-soil— a light clay 
loam. 

On about two acres of this land hogs had been pastured 
and fattened for two years. Oil the other portion of the 
four and a half acres stable manure was spread broadcast 
quite freely. On the part fertilized with hog manure, the 
yield was better than on the other part. The previous year 
this ground had produced a heavy crop of oats, the clover 
and timothy having been sown with the oats. 

The usual average of corn for the clay uplands is about 
twenty-five bushels, wheat eight bushels, oats twenty bush- 
els. About a hundred gallons of sorghum is the product of 
an acre ; sweet potatoes yield well. One hundred and sev- 
enty-five bushels have been raised upon a single acre. Ap- 
ples and grapes bear with great certainty. Peaches rarely 
fail on the uplands. Bees find abundant food in the poplar 
blossoms and in white clover. On the bottom lands and 



80 OIL REGION 

in the coves the yield of all field crops is about twenty-five 
per cent, greater than on the uplands. 

Farm labor is cheap. Fifty cents per day and one hun- 
dred dollars per year, with board, are the usual prices. 

Iron Ores. — Throughout Overton county and a small part 
of Putnam and Fentress counties nodules of red hematite 
are picked up, called dyestone, which will yield about 65 
per cent, of metallic iron. It occurs in the siliceous group, 
and is found associated with chert. It is the only red hem- 
atite which I have met with west of the Cumberland Table- 
land, except the deposit at Clifton. The specimens which 
I found are angular, as though they had been shivered by a 
blow. At some places a bushel of the fragments have been 
picked up. I found the largest quantity on the east side of 
the eastern road to Cookville. It was formerly in great 
demand by housewives for dyeing cloth. I do not think it 
exists in any quantity, though a fine deposit is said to exist 
at Ramsey's mill, on East Fork, one and a half miles west 
of the line of the Pacific railroad* On Aleck Verbal's 
land, on West Fork, four miles west of Ramsey's mill, is 
another reported deposit. 

Brown hematite is found in several localities. Southwest 
of Livingston a considerable bed exists. It was dug for 
many years on Town creek, and used in a Catalan forge on 
Roaring river near Crawford's mill. Some masses were 
found large enough to make several loads for a wagon. 

Eleven miles north of Livingston, on James Sell's 
place, on the headwaters of Ashburn's creek, brown hema- 
tite is found in some quantity, probably enough to justify 
the erection of a forge. The ore is honey-combed and gen- 
erally free of flint. 

Beds of stratified siliceous ore are met with on Puncheon 
Camp of West Fork, on Martin French's place. 

There are extensive beds of brown hematite around Pilot 
Knob, in Putnam county ; also in places near Cookville, 



OF TENNESSEE. 81 

A large deposit is said to exist near the oil wells on 
Spring creek. 

Coal. — Coal of good quality is found at places all along 
the western face of the mountain, and on Alpine Mountain and 
Pilot Mountain. A dozen or more banks have been opened. 
I visited one place on the brow of the mountain where the 
coal showed a seam four feet thick. It is an excellent block 
coal but inaccessible. Putnam, Overton and Fentress all 
have a supply of coal that will last many centuries, even 
with means of transportation and a vigorous development. 
At present there is very little demand for it except by 
blacksmiths, who usually dig and haul their own supplies. 

Lead. — Several beautiful specimens of galena were pre- 
sented to me which were said to have been found in Clay 
county, and to have been taken from a large deposit. How 
much there may be I cannot say, as the person who pro- 
fessed to know where it is refused to impart any information 
as to the locality of the deposit. 

Whetstone Grit. — A fine supply of this is found on Al- 
pine Mountain. It has been worked to some extent and the 
whetstones are highly esteemed. Coarse and fine grit both 
occur. 

Mineral Waters. — Seven miles southwest of Livingston is 
a sulphur spring of rare merit. It is said to be of nearly 
the same quality and produce the same effects as the Red 
Boiling spring of Macon county. 

Chalybeate springs are quite abundant. The most noted 
spring is on Alpine Mountain, five hnndred feet above the 
valley. This place was once improved and was a pleasant 
summer resort. 

Water Powers — We have given a description of Water- 
loo Falls on pages 30 and 31, as illustrative of the general 
character of the streams of this region. There are at least 
thirty streams in the counties particularly described in 
this report which supply good water privileges. The best 
are Spring creek, Roaring river, West Fork, East Fork, 
6 



82 OIL REGION 

Eagle creek (with very valuable falls), Mill creek, Flat 
creek, Blackburn's Fork and its tributary, Bowerman's 
branch, Flynn's creek, Calf-killer and its various tributar- 
ies, and many others. The whole region has an interpene- 
trating network of streams capable of propelling water 
wheels enough to do all the manufacturing of the South* 
[See White and Warren counties in Appendix.] 

Timber and the Lumbering Trade. — No portion of the 
State has a greater amount of valuable timber, and from it 
by far the largest supplies are drawn for the Nash- 
ville market. . It takes about four days to carry a raft from 
Celina to Nashville, a distance of about 220 miles by water. 
Raftsmen charge from fifteen to twenty cents per hundred 
for rafting down after the raft is made up. Usually, how- 
ever, the head raftsman is paid from $20 to $25, payable 
when the raft is landed at Nashville. Some six or eight 
other hands are employed, to whom $10 each are paid. 
Rafts contain from 200 to 300 logs. Coal boats Irom Pu- 
laski county, Kentucky, are carried down on the same 
terms. 

The rafts which come out of Obey's river are small, con- 
sisting of only thirty or forty logs. At Celina, at the mouth 
of Obey's river, six or eight of these small rafts are united 
and a crew obtained for floating to Nashville. The price of 
trees vary from 50 cents to $1.50 across the stump, the 
price depending upon the distance from the river and the 
kind of trees sold. Walnut timber brings about double 
these prices. Timber trees within three or four miles of 
the river are getting scarce. The woods have been picked 
over until really- first-class logs are hard to get within that 
distance, and those that are left are in inaccessible places. 

The price of walnut logs ready for rafting, on East Fork 
of Obey's river, is 90 cents per log, twelve feet long and 
from twenty up to thirty-six inches in diameter. Extra 
large logs are worth $1. At Nashville these logs, up to 
thirty inches in diameter, bring per hundred feet $1.75 ; 



OIL REGION 83 

from thirty inches up, from 82 to $2.50 per hundred. In 
buying logs one-third is allowed for squaring and one-fifth 
for cut of saw. No poplar log under thirty inches in di- 
ameter is wanted by the Nashville saw-mills. Over thirty 
inches $1.25 per hundred is paid, the number of feet being 
estimated by the rule given above. 

In the Nashville market poplar, walnut and ash are in 
greatest demand, though three-quarters of the lumber used 
is poplar. The largest supplies are derived from Jackson 
and Clay counties, but a great deal comes from Fentress and 
Overton by means of Obey's river. From the region of 
the Caney Fork a large quantity is rafted down. Between 
13,000,000 and 15,000,000 feet are annually floated down 
the Cumberland, The w 7 alnut is mostly shipped in logs to 
Chicago, Cincinnati, Boston, Philadelphia, and some to Bal- 
timore. The poplar is mainly manufactured in Nashville 
and shipped to the surrounding country. It is a conceded 
fact that there is no building timber superior to the Tennes- 
see poplar. It is light, strong, durable and easy to work. 
A roof made of drawn yellow poplar shingles will last for 
thirty years. 

The price paid for poplar logs is from $5.00 to $10.00 
per M% Walnut, as has been stated, brings from $17.00,10 
•825 per ML, Scribner's measure. Squared and delivered on 
the railroad it brings from $35 to $40 per # M, depending 
upon the quality. About 1,250,000 feet per annum will 
cover the amount brought to the Nashville market. Usu- 
ally Tennessee walnut is inferior to the Northern grown 
walnut ; the grain is coarser, and there is wanting, for the 
most part, the beautiful curls and shadings that make the 
Northern grown walnut so valuable for veneering purposes. 

At the saw mills in Overton and Clay Counties poplar 
and oak lumber can be bought for $10 to $12 per M. 
Split staves (barrels) can be had at $12 per M; sawed $4 
per M. 

Pine lumber is scarce. The pine trees are only found on 



84 OIL REGION 

the mountain side, generally in places difficult to reach 
with a wagon. 

"Labor is very cheap. Good hands for lumbering may be 
had for for $8 to $10 per month, with board. Without 
board $12 to $15. Carpenters are worth $2 per day and 
board. Board can be had at $1.50 to $2 per week in the 
country; in towns $3. From the oil wells on Spring Creek 
to Butler's Landing, or Gainsboro, hauling is done at the 
rate of 35 to 40 cents per hundred. 

I cannot close this part of this report better than by in- 
serting the following letter from Hon. J. D. Goodpasture, 
of Overton county, whose loyal devotion to his county, and 
close habits of observation, make his suggestions of peculiar 
value. There is no portion of the State where immigrants 
can find cheaper or better homes, among a people, too, noted 
for their hospitality, their integrity, and for their high 
principles of public honor and duty. 



/ 



./. B. Killebrew, Commissioner. 

Overton County prior to the formation of Clay county, 
had a voting population of about 2,300, and was at least in 
point of soil and other natural advantages, an average 
county of the State. By the formation of Clay, about one 
fourth of her m territory, and one third of her w r ealth was 
taken of. She is a stock raising county, and must continue 
to be so as long as she is cut off from all means of trans- 
portation, no other branches of industry will pay. In 1860 
she sent South ten thousand head of fat hogs, in 1861 it is 
said the number was still larger. 

She is well adapted to the growth of grasses, and for that 
reason the raising of horses, mules, and cattle and sheep 
pays well,, but heretofore she has realized more from the 
hog than other stock. The industrious farmer as a general 
thing is now doing well, but we labor under many disad- 
vantages. In the first place this was a border county 
daring the war, and for several years after the war, society 
was very much disorganized. In the next place we are 



OF TENNESSEE. 85 

without railroads. These causes induced a large number of 
our most intelligent and enterprising citizens to leave the 
county, and those who remained were disheartened, and 
seemed to have lost to a great extent their energy. 

Another great drawback on our farmers: They 
own too much land and too little money. The 
consequence is they have been unable to keep up and 
improve their farms We have had but little immigra- 
tion to this county. Our people have been unable to 
sell their lands. Unfortunately those who do not own 
land are too poor to buy, and a very large proportion 
of our population are in that fix. What a country needs 
most is for those who cultivate the soil to own it. No coun- 
try can prosper where a very large proportion of its popula- 
tion are renters. 

In this county as a general thing, the land owners have 
but little money. They cannot vest much money in hired 
labor, and for that reason they only hire during the crop sea- 
son and pay part money, and the balance in provisions. The 
farmer generally boards his laborers, and pays them about 
ten dollars per month for their work. By the time the crop 
is raised, the hired man finds himself in debt. 

From the time the crop is laid by till the next spring the 
laborer is out of employment, usually going from place to 
place working a day here, and another there for a little meat 
or corn, and getting as much on credit as he can, which he 
seldom pays, whilst his family are doing nothing at home 
for the reason they have nothing to do, and living on the 
most scanty allowance. I . would here state however, that 
that I believe our people would all work the year round if 
they could get employment, and get pay for their work* 

There is another class of our people quite numerous, own- 
ing no land but relying upon renting every year. They 
generally raise nothing but corn and oats, sometimes a little 
wheat, paying the landlord one third part of wheat 
raised. They usually begin their crop about the middle of 
April, and work till it is laid by, say about first of July, 
the balance of the year they do nothing or but little. The 
renting system is the worst of all, both for landlord and 
tenant. Usually the landlord furnishes the renter with a 
house to live in and a patch of the best land on the place 
for garden and truck patches free of charge. The renter as 
a general thing has an old poor horse or mare frequently 



86 OIL REGION OF TENNESSEE. 

blind, (they have a friendship for blind horses,) and bull 
tongue plow with which to raise his crop. With this horse 
and plow he scratches the ground and planis his crop. If it 
is hillside land the soil generally washes away in a year 
or two. A crop for one man at gathering time is usually 
about one hundred and fifty bushels of corn (the stock either 
eat up the oats or they are spoiled by the rust so there are 
none to harvest) so the landlord gets fifty bushels of corn > 
generally of a sorry quality, and the renter one hundred. 
At gathering time the renter generally owes fifty bushels of 
his corn, for corn he borrowed to raise the crop. Now in 
order to do any good there must be a change. 

What we most need is capital, and more enterprising 
farmers. 

Our farms must be divided, and more of our citizens, 
must own land, and instead of working three months in the 
year, they must be employed the year round. We must raise 
tobacco or somethings else that will keep our people employ- 
ed, and that employment must be profitable or they will not 
work. A renter will not improve another man's land, unless 
he is paid for it. If he works he must be paid. 

If we had railroads and a market for our potatoes, onions 
and many other things, hundreds would work and raise 
these things, for market that now do nothing, but we have 
no railroad, so we must do something else. 

Here I would say I believe this is the best undeveloped 
country in the United States. I believe that the same 
quality of land, can be bought here for less money than it 
can be any where, else in the Union. 

In this county there is fully two thirds of the land that 
has never been cleared, still in the woods, and of this 
full three-fourths is excellent farming lands. 

There are large quantities of good farming land in the 
woods, not a stick amiss that can be bought at from $2.50 
to $5.00 per acre, and on almost every tract never failing 
springs. 

Respectfully yours, 

J. D. GOODPASTURE. 



APPENDIX. 



APPENDIX. 



In my investigations of the oil resources of the State, I visited several 
counties where no valuable indications of oil presented themselves. A 
good many objects of interest, however, were brought to my attention, a 
knowledge of which may prove of value to those desiring to make their 
home in the State. Among other counties visited were White and War- 
ren, two counties which present a great variety of attractions. 

WHITE COUNTY. 

This county lies immediately south of Putnam, and contains about 350 
square miles. Of this area about one-fourth is mountain land, one-fourth 
valley, and the remainder bold hills, elevated plateaus, and swelling 
knolls. The surface varies from high mountains on the east to gently rol- 
ling hills on the west, with isolated points that rise up about half way the 
height of the mountain. 

There are three principal topographical features, viz : The Table-land 
or Cumberland mountains on the east, the Valley lands and the Barrens. 
The Table-land has an elevation of 2000 feet above the sea. It has a 
level or gently rolling surface, cut in places by deep gulfs or gorges ; pure 
mountain air, delicious water, and beautiful and sublime scenery. The 
description of its topographical features, as given in the Resources ot Ten- 
nessee, are so accurate, that I can do no better than to adopt it. 

The mountain slopes on the face of the Table-land and its spurs and 
outlying ridges occupy a considerable part of the area of the county. 
The surface on these slopes is for the most part broken and rugged, with 
many bold cliffs and deep ravines. The escarpment of the Table-land is 
marked by a line of hard sandstone and conglomerate cliffs, in many 
places towering high above the tall trees on the slopes below. From the 
salient angles of these cliffs may be seen extensive and beautiful views of 
the lower outlying ridges with their intervening valleys and the broad flat 
and wooded country beyond, extending as far as the eye can reach. A t 
about half the height of the Table-land is the terrace or "bench." This 
terrace has the same elevation as the tables or tops of most of the little 



90 WHITE COUNTY. 

mountains or outliers. It affords sites for some beautiful farms and or- 
chards, where all varieties of fruit common to the country are produced. 
The valley of Lost creek, cut off and completely encompassed by Pine 
Mountain, an arm of the Cumberland, is on a level wilh the terrace. 
This terrace was doubtless originally much more extensive than at pres- 
ent, and there are evidences that it covered more than half the area of the 
county, including the whole valley of the Calf Killer river and all the 
smaller valleys and coves in the county, and also the range of smaller 
mountain? to the west. By far the greater part h;is been removed by the 
agency of water, but the spurs and outliers are left to tell the tale of its 
former extent. The escarpment of the terrace, as it now is, is very much 
scalloped by coves and protuberances of large size extend outward, forming 
spurs, some of which spread out into plateaus, separated by coves and 
valleys. Some of these spurs are cut off by gaps, forming separate moun- 
tains; but all, with two exceptions, have a common elevation. The two 
exceptions are Pine mountain, between Lost creek and Hickory valley, 
and Milksick mountain, west o ; Hickory valley, both of which are equal 
in height 10 the Cumberland Table-land. A belt of these little mountains, 
averaging three miles wide, extends all along the western base of the 
Table-land. Interspersed among them are many coves and small valleys. 
Separated from these by the broad valley of the Calf KLler, there is a dis- 
tinct range broken into three parts by large gaps. This range begins with 
a spur of Cumberland mountain in Putnam county, which extends first 
westward and then southwest around the head of Calf Killer river. The 
extremity of this spur is in White county. In a line with it the range of 
small mountains extends southwest entirely across White county, termi- 
nating near Rock Island in the Caney Fork. This range is cut off from 
the spur by ihe valley of Cherry creek. It is divided by three gaps into 
four separate mountains, each of which has a distinctive name. These 
gaps are on a level with the valleys, and all of them are large enough to 
contain farms. They give easy means of outlet to the open country north 
and west. The valley of the Calf Killer lies between the belt of little 
mountains along the base of the Cumberland and the range last described. 
lis head is in the southeast corner of Putnam county. Narrow at first, it 
grows wider as it extends toward the southwest, occupying a belt across 
the center of the county, and reaching from cne extremity to the opposite. 
It is twenty-five miles long, and has an average breadth of about four 
miles. The surface is generally rolling, and there are no bottoms along 
the river. An interesting topographical feature is presented by the sink- 
holes, which aie very numerous in this valley. These hopper-shaped 
cavities vary in size from ten to one hundred yards in diameter. Their 
presence indicates the existence of underground cavern*, through many of 
which flow subterranean streams. In all this region there is no running 
water on the surface, except the rivers and large creeks; all of the springs 
being swallowed up by the caves. In many of the sink-holes the opening 



TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES, 91 

at the bottom has become closed by stiff clay or some other obstruction? 
and in such c >ses a little lake or pond is formed. There are many of 
these in all parts of this* valley, and they are a convenience to the farmers? 
enabling them with ease to have water in every pasture. Hickory Valley 
lies between Pine and Milksick mountains in the southern part of the 
county. It is five miles long with an average breadth of one mile. Its 
characteristics are similar to those of the Calf Killer Valley, with which 
it is connected by two gaps at the upper or northern end. Cherry Creek 
Valley opens into that of Calf Killer above Yankeetown. It is seven 
miles long and three quarters t> one mile wide. The elevated valley of 
Lost creek has already been mentioned. In it are a number of beau if ul 
farms, where the people dwell retired and caring little for the changes 
that agitate the world abroad. The waters of the creek linger lovingly in 
this Arcadian retreat, protracting their stay by many graceful meanders, 
and then steal away through an underground channel beneath the moun- 
tain into the Caney Fork. There are many beautiful little coves snugly 
ensconsed among the smaller mountains, generally having one or more 
outlets into the valleys. Reyond the ran^e of mountains which bounds 
the Calf Killer valley on the west, are the barrens. Most of the surface 
is level or gently undulating, and all the streams of water are here on the 
surface. 

Hocks, Soils and Timber. — The rocks on the Table-land are sandstone, and 
consequently this division has a light, sandy soil, well adapted to the pro- 
duction of wild grasses, fruits and garden vegetable, but too thin for grain; 
tracts of boggy land along the streams, which, when drained, make beau- 
tiful meadows; small trees of the hardier kinds, of which post-oak and. 
black-jack are most abundant. This part of the county is sparsely pop- 
ulated, and is now regarded a^ of little value except as a summer range 
for cattle. Most of the farmers in the va leys own tracts of the moun- 
tain land?, in some cases amounting to thousands of acres, where they 
have ranches or " cow-pens." The woods are burnt off in February or 
March, leaving the surface smooth and clean for the growth of the grass, 
which then springs up beautifully, and after a few warm days, the whole 
mountain presents the appearance of an unbounded meadow. Wild 
flowers grow in great profusion and bedeck with gay colors the emerald 
sea. Thither the cattle are driven from the farms in the valleys, and 
attended by herdsmen, who allow them to range at will and graze on the 
rich herbage during the day, but pen them at night. The Mountain 
Limestone crops out on the slopes above the terrace, and yields, by disin- 
tegration, the elements of fertility to the soils in its vicinity. These ter- 
race or " bench" lands are especially valuable for fruit farms. Some of 
the orchards never fail to produce good crops. They are peculiarly ex- 
empt from injury by frost. The tables of the outliers have a cap rock of 
sandstone, and a soil in a respects similar to that of the Cumberland 
table-land. Limestone appears again on the lower slopes, and prevails to 



92 

the base of the mountain. Too rugged for cultivation, these slopes ara 
nevertheless valuable for the great forests of timber they bear. Sugar 
maple, beech, ash, walnut, buckeye, linden, wild-cherry, and immense 
yellow poplars are abundant in the forests. In the valleys the soil is 
generally good, being a dark brown loam, on a subsoil of strong clay, 
which lies on a bed of Lithostrotion limestone. The subsoil is of a pe- 
culiar red color, made so by oxide of iron liberated in the decomposi- 
tion of masses of ferruginous chert. In some places these cherty masses 
are scatteied loosely over the surface, in nodules or irregular concretions 
from the size of a pebble to several hundred pounds in weight. These 
rocks are troublesome in tillage and wearing on implements, but by grad- 
ual disintegration thpy continually add fertilizing elements to the soil. 
Most of them are highly fossiliferous, and among them it is common to 
meet with a large coral of a prismoidal form, known to geologists as 
the Lithostrotion Canadense. The richest lands in the country are in the 
smaller valleys or coves, some of which appear to have been, at a remote 
period, the beds of small lakes, from which the water has escaped, leaving 
a deep, rich alluvium, well mixed with sand from the surrounding heights. 
With good tillage the soil is inexhaustible, and it is very easy of cultiva- 
tion. When the country was settled, the coves were covered with a ve ry 
heavy growth of beech, sugar-maple, buckeye and yellow poplar, while an 
undergrowth of cane-brakes rendered the surveying of the lands a work 
of great difficulty. In the barrens much of the soil is thin and deficient 
in lime. Sandstone prevails, valuable for building, but imparting no 
fertilizing quality to the soil. Much of the surface is level or gently un- 
dulating, and thinly wooded. Post-oak, suitable for cross-ties, is abundant. 
At several places, however, red clay and limestone prevail, and furnish 
sites for a number of good grain and fruit farms, and the less fertile por- 
tions furnish a fine range for sheep and cattle. 

MINERALS. 

Coal — The coves which indent the mountain side disclose and render 
accessible several valuable seams of coal. 

Kailroads may be constructed with an easy grade, and sufficiently be- 
low the coal to permit the construction of chutes for the loading of cars. 
Several mines have been opened east of Sparta, which supply a most ex- 
cellent grate coal that burns with the brightness of a pine-wood knot. 
Four miles east of Sparta I examined and measured a stratum of coal 
four feet in thickness. This stratum is parted in the center by a seam of 
cannel coal, which at the outcrop was only about one inch thick, but 
gradually increased, so that at the distance of twenty feet it measured 
three and one-half and four inches. This h called the Fisk Bank, and 
promises well, the slope of the mountain being very gradual, and the coal 
a hard block, with a semi-lustrous appearance, and will bear transporta- 



MINERALS. 93 

tion well. One hundred yards south of this place the same stratum has 
been worked and mainly used for blacksmith purposes. Two hundred 
yards further the same stratum is now worked to a limited extent the 
quantity taken from it being only 125 bushels daily. The coal at this 
place shows an eastward dip, and if worked from the present opening 
much difficulty will be met with in keeping the mine drained. 

The underclay at this place is four or more feet in thickness, while a 
bluish shale overlies the coal, which is but the underclay to a stratum 
above. The bed of clay underlying tbe stratum rests upon sandstone, 
which is here about 150 feet in thickness, itself resting upon the moun- 
tain limestone. At this place three distinct openings have been made all 
of which display good workable coal. 

Little's Bank lies a quarter of a mile further north, which is more ex- 
tensively worked than any other in this county — nearly all the grates and 
blacksmith shops in Sparta being supplied from this place. The entry 
has been driven in about seventy feet with no cross entries. The thick- 
ness of the seam at the outcrop is 44 inches, which at the distance named 
above has increased to four and a half feet. Three feet below this seam 
is another three and a half feet thick, which was worked many years ago 
and furnished coal equal in quality to the one now worked. Six feet 
above the first mentioned, another seam appears two feet thick, furnishing 
coal of a similar character. The three seam^ at this point will aggregate 
a thickness of ten feet, and it is quite probable that they all run into each 
other. 

Various other openings have been made, enough to demonstrate the 
fact that the whole western escarpment of the Cumberland Table-land in 
this county has outcrops of coal which, in the aggregate will measure 
from eight to ten feet in thickness. The distance from the extreme south- 
ern opening to the one lying further north, is twenty-two miles, while east 
of Sparta sixteen miles, and twelve miles from Settle's Bank, at Scarbo- 
rough's Mill, coal appears in a seam ten feet thick. This coal is found 
in a valley -like depression in the mountain, and is covered by only about 
a foot of sandy soil. In general terms we may, in confidence, affirm that 
the whole eastern part of White county is underlaid with coal of great 
purity and excellence, easily worked, and covering, in the aggregate, 
quite one hundred and twenty-five square miles. Xowhere in the State, 
are the seams more trustworthy or the coal of better quality. 

It may be well, in this connection, to state that the same outcrop con- 
tinues southward in Van Buren county. On Big Hill branch, a wet- 
weather stream and tributary to Cane creek, six miles east of Spencer, 
good lump coal occurs in a seam six feet thick. It has been used for 
twenty-five years and is highly esteemed for its welding properties. 

Another presentation of coal occurs in the bed of the same branch, t\io 
hundred feet below the top of the mountain. Northwest of this, two miles 



94 WHITE COUNTY, 

on the east side of Cane creek, is Mooneyham's bank, where the seam is 
nearly one hundred feet above that last described. On both sides of Cane 
creek, for a distance of twelve miles, coal occurs in workable quantities as 
also in the cross ravines. The portion of our coat field in White and Van 
Buren counties has been but little noticed, from the fact that no means at 
present exist for transporting the coal to market. 

I am clearly of opinion, after having visited nearly all the mines in 
the State at present worked, that, in quantity and quality, no coal in the 
State is superior to that found in the two counties under consideration , 
It belongs to the lower coal measures, all the seams being below the con- 
glomerate except those on Clifty creek and at Scarborough's mill. The 
seams are trustworthy, the coal is of great purity with but a small percent- 
age of sulphur and free from slate* It burns freely, leaving as a residuum 
a white ash. It is much harder than the Sewanee or Rockwood coals, and 
unlike them, has not a shelly or crushed appearance, and will bear trans- 
portation as well as the Battle creek or Upper Cumberland coals. In no 
place is such a body of coal found in the lower coal measures. 

The following is a section taken at Little's Bank, which will no doubt 
apply to all the western margin for several miles : 

Beginning at the top and descending we have : 

1. Conglomerate » ,40 to 60 feet. 

2. Shale 75 feet, 

3. Sandstone 12 feet. 

4. Coal 2 feet. 

5. Shale and Fire Clay 6 feet. 

6. Coal, main entry 44 inches at out-crop, cubical 4J feet. 

7. Fire Clay and Shale ..' 3 feet. 

8. Coal worked for many years „.. 3J feet. 

9. Under-clay 2 feet. 

10. Space down to Limestone, Shale and Sandst >n>? 50 feet. 

11. Mountain Limestone. 

A peculiarity in the lower coal measures in this region is noticeable 
In Pennsylvania these are called the "Barren Coal Measures," because the 
coal lies in pockets and is not reliable. In the counties of Marion and 
Hamilton, though the seams below the conglomerate, never run out, ye?, 
thev are liable to continual variations in thickness. Sometimes the 
coal lies in great ma^es eight or ten feet thick, and then thins out to a few 
inches. 

At the iEtna mines, in Marion county, a seam was opened which at the 
outcrop was six feet thick, increased to nine, and then fell off' to three 
thus showing the lenticular character of the strata of coal in the lower 
measures in that county. In White, on the contrary, the seams so far 



WATER POWER. 95 

have Varied very little, though increasing in thickness gradually with the 
length of the adit. 

Iron Ore.— While the coal supply of White is in excess of any probable 
demand for a century to come, the iron ore, though good, is more limited 
in extent, A little west of north from Sparta, and at a distance of three 
and a half miles, is a series of low hills, in which pot ore (limonite) 
abounds. The surface of these hills is covered with a water-worn gravel 
of a dingy yellow color, intermingled with masses of chert and yellow 
clay. The ore occurs in masses of all sizes, up to blocks which would 
weigh three hundred p mnds. One lump which was dug out for me Weighs 
over two hundred pounds. The hills in which the ore occurs are conical 
in shape and about thirty feet above the general surface of the Calf Killer 
Valley. They cover from one to five acres, and are separated from each 
other by gentle depressions. The characteristic growth is scrubby black 
jacks, post-oaks and hickory. The iron deposits extend for the distance of 
four or five miles in a northeasterly direction. 

The Board Valley Mountain, an outlier of the Cumberland tableland, 
lies ten miles north of Sparta. It is an elevated ridge aHout 500 feet 
high, eight miles long, one mile wide, and bears northeast and southwest. 
The southeastern side of this mountain is sandstone, while limestone is 
the prevailing rock of the northwestern Bide. On the top and southeast- 
ern slope brown hematite occurs in considerable abundance, enough from 
the external indications to supply a twelve-ton turnace lor many years* 
Workable ore is found throughout its entire length. The mountain is 
heavily timbered on both sides with poplar, oak, walnut, chestnut and 
other varieties. 

As early as 1825 a forge was in operation near Sparta, which made 
nearly all the bar iron consumed in the county. The ore used in this fur- 
nace was taken from the banks 3 J miles north of Sparta. The iron was 
■fiighly prized for its toughness, strength and hardness, and was largely 
used in the manufacture of plows and horse shoes. For the latter purpose 
owing to its great hardness, it Was considered especially valuable, 

WATER POWER. 

Kot the least valuable of the undeveloped resources of the county is 
the large number of streams that supply water-power. The rapidity with 
which these streams descend from their elevated sources gives them a 
wonderful momentum. The e-timatod power of these streams are suffici- 
ent to work up all the cotton grown in the United States, 

How Water- Powers are Estimated. — It may not be amiss to observe tha^ 
the dynamical force ol a stream is found by the formula 58.23 s V 3 , in 
which a is the cross section of the fluid Qurrent in square feet, and v the 
velocity in fett per stcond — so that if the velocfty of the current be 10 



96 WHITE COUNTY, 

feet per second, the mean depth 2 feet, and the mean width 15 feet, we 
shall have 

8=2x15^30 

V 3 =10xl0xl0=1000 

Now substitute in the formula 

58.23 sV* 

and we have 

. 58.23x30xl000==1746900.00, 

Leaving off the two decimals the remaining figures represent the dynamic 
force of a current. Now, to get the horse-power, divide the dynamical 
force by 33000, which is the unit of measure, and we shall have for the 
supposed stream 52.94, or nearly 53-horse power. 

Reduced to rule, we may say, to obtain the number of horse-powers in 
a stream — 

Measure the Velocity of the stream in feet for one second ; measure also 
in feet the mean width and the mean depth of the stream, then multiply 
the width by the depth and this by the cube of the velocity and the result 
by 58.23. Cut off the two right hand figures and divide by 33,000, and 
the quotient will be the dynamical force of the stream in horse power. 

Of all the water powers in the county, that on Caney Fork at the falls, 
if not the best, at least is the most powerful. This stream is one of the 
largest tributaries of the Upper Cumberland. Taking its rise on the Cum- 
berland Mountain about eighteen miles east of Sparta it descends through 
a deep, dark, narrow gorge, hemmed in by frowning cliffs for twelve or 
fifteen miles, when it debouches into an undulatory valley plain. Pass- 
ing westward through this valley by many winding ways, it plunges, at 
Bock Island, over a siliceous limestone, by a succession of falls and rapids, 
for two and a half miles. 

At Rock Island, where the piers for the railroad bridge have been partly 
built, there is a fall of five feet, which might be increased by a dam of 
any required heighth. From the island to the principal falls, a distance 
of about two miles, there is a fall of five feet. At this point the water 
descends perpendicularly twenty-five feet. Below the main fall, for 250 
yards, there are rapids with a fall of six feet, when there occur three 
successive falls within one hundred yards, each of about twenty feet. 
Then succeed rapids for thirty yards, with a fall of six feet. Below the 
rapids the water is eddy for 150* yards, Below the eddy water there are 



WATER POWER. 97 

rapids for a hundred yards or more, with a fall of six feet. From this 
point to the principal falls, a distance of a quarter of a mile, the aggre- 
gate descent, as measured by Major Falconett, civil engineer, is 96 feet. 
Below the rapids last mentioned there is a succession of shoals, until at 
the distance of three miles the Horse Shoe falls occur, where there is a 
perpendicular descent of six feet. The current, from this place to^Bailiff 's 
mills, a distance of two miles, is rapid. 

Four miles below, at Frank's ferry, is the head of steamboat naviga- 
tion. At many places in the river the channel is compressed within a 
space of twenty yards, while at others it widens to one hundred yards or 
more. The average breadth of the stream is about seventy -five yards. 

The banks and bottom of this stream from Rock island to the foot of 
the rapids are composed, as before remarked, of ledges |of hard siliceous 
rock which have withstood the erosion, while the softer rocks below, 
mainly the Trenton limestone and shale, have not been able fo resist the 
continued corroding action of the water. 

Dams, by reason of such banks, can be made durable without any 
danger from undermining or a diversion of the stream by pressure around 
the ends. Material for their construction is cheap and convenient. The 
lay of the land for the erection of buildings is not good ; high, overhang- 
ing bluffs or steep banks extending nearly all the way. Nevertheless a 
few good sites are found under the bluffs, and the water could be con- 
veyed through artificial flumes below the falls two or three hundred yards 
where the bluff gradually subsides into a comparative level surface. 

It would be difficult to estimate the great power which could be 
developed at this place. It would come within the range of possibility 
to say that, throughout the entire distance from the foot of the rapids to 
Rock island, a distance of two miles and a half, a dam eight feet high 
could beconsiructed on an average for every four hundred yards, so as to 
secure a storage of at least 20,000,000 cubic feet of water. From the 
island to the last rapids, the velocity of the current would average not 
less than eight feet per second, while a section of the river in ordinary 
water below the island and above the principal falls, would give near 
900 square feet. Upon this conjecture each dam would .represent a 760 
gross horse power, or the stream for the distance under consideration 
would furnish power equal to 9120 horses. 

Yet the Caney Fork is by no means the most available water power in 
the county. Many others have better sites for the building of mills, and 
which will furnish power enough to drive any ordinary mill or factory. 
One of these is Falling Water, a tributary of Caney Fork. The stream 
is not one-eighth as large as Caney Fork, but it is very valuable. At Wil- 
liams' mill, twelve mile from its mouth, there is succession of rapids 
where the descent is 200 feet in 700 yards. The volume of water is suffi- 
ciently large for any manufacturing purposes. At this mill there is a 

7 



98 WHITE COUNTY, 

present power of about 80 horse, and this could be multiplied by the con- 
struction of dams several times within half a mile. The mill at this 
point has no other dam than a log pinned down in the bed of the stream, 
which diverts the current into the mill race. 

Below the mill, at the site of a former mill, there is a natural rock 
Hume, into which all the water at ordinary stages is gathered, and was 
made to run the mill without any dam whatever. The supply of water of 
this stream is constant. Owing to the rapid fall the water never gets too 
high, and an experience of fifty years shows the remarkable fact that no 
mill has ever been stopped by excessive freshets. 

The cascade falls, half a mile below this, is one of the most picturesque 
in the State. The stream at this point has cut down through the silicious 
limestone seventy feet, and through a bed of black shale thirty feet in 
thickness, and carved out a deep channel in the Nashville limestone. The 
bluffs on each side rise up quite 250 feet, and the water plunges over two 
faces of an angular rock in a perpendicular fall of 120 feet. Just before 
reaching the bottom it strikes against a shelving mass of rocks, which 
lashes the water into great horizontal cylinders of spray. A beautiful 
rainbow in the evening, when the sun is shining, rests upon the surging 
mass of waters. During the winter months the spray congeals upon the 
tops of trees in the gulf below, and accumulates in such masses as to 
break off the tops. 

Taylor's creek, a tributary of Falling Water, passes through the north 
western part of the county, and though the volume of water is small, it 
supplies excellent power easily and cheaply utilized. At Fancher's mill, 
two dams are erected within a distance of two hundred yards. The fall 
of the stream in a distance of 300 yards is 69 feet. 

Below the lower dam there are rapids for 200 yards, then a succession 
of falls ten, twenty and one hundred and sixteen feet. The stream has 
worn down a channel in the solid rock fifty feet or more, before reaching 
the main fall, so that the falls are not so high as the bluff by that dis- 
tance. At the falls the bluffs widen out so as to make a semi- elliptical 
grotto or cul-de-sac. This deep grotto or chasm extends down to Falling- 
water, five or six miles distant, and the scenery is inexpressibly wild and 
picturesque. 

Town creek, a tributary of the Calf Killer, furnishes admirable water- 
power. Nearly the entire volume of water is furnished by a spring two 
miles west of Sparta.' The stream flows in a southeasterly direction, and 
the entire length is only one mile and three-quarters. Yet there are sev- 
eral mills upon it, and the supply of water varies very little in summer 
or winter. 

The falls of the Calf Killer river supplies a very large amount of water- 
power within one mile of Sparta. Upon these falls the Sparta factory 
"Was erected many years since, and up to the breaking out of the war cot- 
ton and woolen goods were manufactured in large quantities, and the fac- 



BOCICS OF VALUE. 199 

fory supplied remunerative employment to a great many women and chil- 
dren. The machinery and looms were shipped south during the war, and 
the building his not been re-stocked since. These buildings consist of 
several tenement houses and a large brick, sixty by one hundred feet, four 
stories high. The walls, roof and floors of the factory building are in a 
good state of preservation. The dam has been destroyed, and trees are 
growing up in the race. The river at this point has a very rapid descent, 
a succession of falls occurring for nearly a mile, over an indurated sand- 
stone. At the factory there is a fall of fifteen feet within 300 yards. 
When the factory was in operation there was a seven-foot dam above the 
falls, which gave a head of 22 feet at the factory. The height of this:dam 
might be increased to ten feet. 

The hard sandstone (which forms the bed and banks of the stream at 
this point resists the erosion of the water, and is very favorable *for the 
construction of water-tight dams. There are many other points on the 
Calf Killer where excellent mill and factory sites can be procured. Sev- 
eral good mills are already in successful operation, and it is to £>6 Regret- 
ted that more of its excellent and available force is not utilized in spin- 
ing and weaving our cotton and wool into textile fabrics. 

ROCKS OF COMMERCIAL VALUE. 

The building stones constitute one of the important resources of -the 
county. The limestones, of which the re is a great variety, are hard, com- 
pact and durable. Hydraulic rock occurs in three varieties, blue, white 
and grey, and is found in abundance, cropping out all along the Calf 
Killer and upon the sides of the mountains. A limestone of a clouded 
white appearance occurs in great quantities, and has been quarried. and 
wrought into tomb-stones. Whetstone quarries have been -opened on the 
western slope of the Table-land. The most noted quarries are on the 'right 
and left of the road leading from Sparta to Kingston, and another 
on Lost creek. The whetstones obtained from these points are equal to 
the best in market. The sandstone heretofore spoken of as occurring near 
the Sparta factory, has a sharp grit, but is not equal to that phtalned 
from the quarries mentioned. 

Flag-stones of an excellent variety are found in the low spurs and ^foot 
hills of the Cumberland mountains. They vary in thickness from^half 
an inch to ten inches ; many of them have a surface as smooth as if they 
had been dressed, while others are ripple-marked. The stones form the 
cap rock of the hills, and lie above the limestone. A quarry resembles 
a pile of planks of varying thickness. Each stratum maintains die-same 
thickness throughout. These stones are easily quarried, and they «ould 
be got out with mechanical power sufficient, large enough to cover an*acre 
In extent. They are used for pavements, and some of them have even 
been used for hall floors. If river or rail transportation was -afforded, 
they would bear transportation a great distance, as the cost of quarrying 



100 WHITE COUNTY/ 

them will not exceed one-fifth the cost of sawing and dressing limestone. 
Potter's clay of a good quality is found in the northwestern part of 
the county. It is extensively worked. 

Salt Wells. — As early as 1818, wells were sunk on the Calf Killer river 
three and a half miles northeast of Sparta. They were re-opened during 
the recent civil war, and supplied the surrounding country with salt. Carbu- 
retted hydrogen gas issues from the wells, which burns with a brilliant white 
light. The supply of this gas is continuous, and it has been known to 
burn without intermission for a period of six months, making a light of 
such refulgence that persons at the distance of several miles could see to 
read large print distinctly. The water which issues from these wells is 
of a deep blue color, and is brought up from a depth of three and four 
hundred feet. It has a sulphurous and brackish taste. Fifty bushels of 
salt per day have been made from these wells by the evaporation of the 
water in shallow kettles. The timber for miles around has been cut for 
fuel to be used in evaporating the water. 

East of Sparta, and'on the road leading from Sparta to Bon Air Springs, 
a stratum of earth appears which resembles a mass of disintegrated shale. 
This lies above the whetstone grit, and between it and magnesian lime- 
stone. There are three varieties of it, differing mainly in coloring mat- 
ter. The low*est bed is blue, not unlike the underclay of the coal meas- 
ures ; the second has a purple color, and the uppermost stratum a dark 
reddish color. This last lies immediately under the limestone, and is said 
to have been used w r ith good result as a fertilizer. The bed is five feet 
thick, and could be used to great advantage on the sandstone soils of the 
mountain. 

Mineral Springs. — There are several mineral springs in this county some 
of which are noted for their health-giving properties. The most noted of 
these is Bon Air, which is 1827 feet above the sea level. The water is 
chalybeate, and many years ago it was a place of summer resort. But 
the buildings have all gone to decay. The scenery from this point west- 
ward is varied, extensive and grand. Rounded peaks, long ranges of 
swelling heights, deep gulfs of verdure along which the Calf Killer 
and its tributaries flow ; cultivated fields, sometimes running high up 
the slopes of the mountains, scattered farm-houses — these form the prin- 
cipal features of the landscape. The high elevation of this place rising 
as it does far above the malarious atmosphere of the bottoms, assures 
vigorous health to the sojourner. 

Thus it will be seen that White county has immense capabilities, and 
the railroad which was projected to run to Sparta from McMinnville, and 
which has been graded, would offer a wide field for the industrious. Cheap 
water power and rocks of great commercial value abound ; also soils 
of more than average fertility, well adapted to the growth of tobacco, 
corn, wheat, oats, hay, potatoes, and upon which are grown excellent cot- 



FAKMING INTERESTS. 101 

ton ; these Will insure a brilliant future for the county. Good roads are 
wanting. The schools are improving, and the public mind is turned to 
the advantages which would result from a utilization of the great natural 
forces and agencies which abound in the county. 

FARMING INTERESTS. 

With a good soil, and in a region where droughths seldom occur, on 
account of the proximity of the mountains, the farmers of White county- 
ought to be prosperous. The negroes, to a large extent, have left the 
county, and the supply of labor is scarce. The wages of farm hands 
vary from S8 to SI 2 per month with board. The principal crops, named 
in order of their importance, are corn, wheat cotton, oats, sweet potatoes* 
Irish potatoes, tobacco, rye and turnips. Dried fruit is an important arti- 
cle of trade, as also eggs and chickens. At one country store I found the 
following shipments of country produce : 

Dried apples 30,000 pounds. 

Eggs 100 dozen per week. 

Feathers 1,200 pounds per year. 

Dried blackberries 5,391 pounds. 

Ginseng 300 pounds. 

Chickens 1,500 per year 

Cotton in seed 15,000 to 30,000 pounds per year. 

In addition to these, the staple products are bacon, wheat, peas, beans, 
peaches and a small quantity of tobacco. The cultivation of this last 
crop is yearly increasing. The farmers, as a class, are very independent, 
and make upon their farms nearly everything they live upon, saving 
always a surplus sufficient to buy sugar, coffee and salt. Home manu- 
facture is carried on extensively including jeans, linsey blankets, 
carpets, matting, cotton and woolen socks, cotton cloth, flax, linen, 
baskets, shuck collars and ropes. 

Farms are usually small and well cultivated. There is a great diver- 
sity of craps, and in no portion of the State does industry on the farm 
pay belter. Upon the best lands it is not uncommon to gather 50 to 75 
bushels of corn to the acre. Good farms are worth from §15 to $40 per 
acre. Mountain lands from 50 cents to $1.00. Barren lands from SI to 
$3 per acre. The best farming lands are in Calf Killer valley. 

As a fruit region portions of White county are unsurpassed. Mr. D. S. 
England, living five miles from Sparta, has over 40 acres in orchard. 
Four acres are devoted to pears, of which he has a great variety. He cul- 
tivates 40 varieties of peaches and 150 of apples. Karely does he fail to 
have a good crop. His farm is the only place where I have seen the 
Seuppernong grape do well upon a clayey soil. The vines upon his place 
bear full every year. He has other varieties, and manufactures consider- 
able quantities of wine every year. 

Farm Stock. — There is a general disposition to improve stock of all 



102 WARBEN COUNTY; 

kinds. Numerous importations of fine hogs and bulls have been made 
within the past few years, and the % impression is becoming general that 
poor stock does not pay. 

ANTIQUITIES. 

Evidences are not wanting to show that this region, in the dim and 
shadowy past, was occupied by a singular race of human beings. Exten- 
sive grave-yards are found scattered over the valley of the Calf Killer 
near the bases of adjacent mountains. Skeletons are exhumed from 23 
to 26 inches in length. They are usually found buried in a sitting pos- 
ture, from one to three feet beneath the surface. The skeleton is always 
found in an oblong vault lined with flag-stones. In every grave is found 
an earthen pot containing beads made of shells or stone, and sometimes of 
dark earth. 

WARKEX COUNTY. 

Excluding the portion of the Cumberland Table-land, Warren county 
may be said to be flat highlands, but sufficiently cut by streams, with tol- 
erably deep valleys, to give contrast and variety to the surtace. The east- 
ern portion is made rough by the spurs and outliers of the Table-land, 
and supplies many mountain valleys, coves and often wild, picturesque 
gorges, precipices and water-falls. The southeastern part of the county 
lies on the Cumberland plateau, and has the elevation, soil and physical 
features which pertain to that region. Three- fourths of Warren county 
rests upon a bed of red clay, which has the capacity of retaining moisture 
without suffering from a want of drainage. Calcareous and siliceous? 
they combine the strength of the one with the friableness of the other. 
The remainder of the land is mountainous, but some of the best lands are 
found in the coves. These are usually very productive, and yield from 
thirty to forty bushels of corn per acre, while for fruit they are considered 
unequalled, especially for the apple. • 

There are but few counties in the State presenting more attractions than 
the county of Warren. Its bold topographical features and beautiful 
scenery, healthy climate and fertile soil, its grand supply of water-power 
and the value and extent of its mineral wealth, all assure for it a bright 
career in the future. 

WATER-POWERS. 

Its water-powers and manufacturing industries deserve special mention. 
The principal stream is Collins river, which rises on the ragged edge of 
Grundy County, and gathering strength as it descends northward to the 
undulating plain below, pours its flood into Caney Fork, just above the 
great fails already mentioned in the description of White county. Its 
length is twenty -five miles, its average width about 250 feet, and 
depth two feet. It is a quiet stream, for the first ten or twelve miles. 



WATER POWER. 103 

after leaving the base of the Cumberland mountains falling about 
three feet to the mile. Toward its mouth its fall increases to eight or ten 
feet per mile, and the stream becomes turbulent, rushing between rocky 
banks, composed of hard siliceous limestone. There is very little bottom 
land in its lower course, and mill-dams with ten feet fall could be erected 
every mile or two. The Southwestern railroad from McMinnville to 
Sparta is graded on a line generally parallel to the river, and within a 
short distance of it. 

Barren Fork, the tributary of Collins river, is fifteen miles long, has a 
volume of water about two-thirds of that of Collins river, but is much 
more constant in its supply of water, rising as it does in the "flat woods' 
of Cannon county. All streams rising in the "flat woods" find a more 
regular supply of water than those rising on the mountains. This stream 
is never affected by drought to such a degree as to suspend operations of 
the mills upon its banks. 

Hickory creek, a tributary of the latter, has about one-fourth the capa- 
city of Barren Fork, and is more fluctuating in its supply of water. 
Nevertheless, it furnishes some very desirable water-power and within the 
distance of six miles turns the wheels of several excellent mills. This 
stream drains the most desirable farming district in the county, the soil 
being a clayey loam, based upon an unctuous ferruginous clay that retains 
in a remarkable degree all fertilizers put upon it. 

Mountain creek and Charley's creek run nearly parallel, and are tribu- 
taries of Collins river. Both are excellent streams for milling purposes. 
Charley's creek falls about 20 feet per mile for the first four miles above 
its mouth. Near its mouth there are two woolen mills, a flouring mill and 
a saw-mill, all within the distance of half a mile. Mountain creek has 
several excellent mills. These streams rise in the "flat lands" of Cannon 
county, and though having only one-fifth the capacity of Collins river? 
they never fail to supply a sufficiency of water for the mills on their 
banks. For every half-mile, for the distance of four miles above the 
mouth of Charley's creek, a dam giving eight feet fail maybe constructed. 

Rocky river, in the eastern border of the county, rises among the moun- 
tains of Van Buren county, and runs northwest, emptying into Caney 
Fork at Rock Island near the mcuth of Collins river. Being a mountain 
stream, it is very variable in its supply of water. The great falls of 
Caney Fork has a fall of ninety-six feet within the distance of one quar- 
ter of a mile. This water-power, though immense in its force, is very in- 
accessible, the stream being hemmed in by precipitous bluffs, rising to the 
height at the falls of about 10Q feet. The power, however, could be trans- 
mitted by wire belts to any desirable distance. This is now done on such 
streams in Scotland with a loss of only ten per cent, of power 



104 WARREN COUNT Y, 



MANUFACTORIES. 

The manufacturing interests of Warren county are considerable. The 
Annie cotton factory, owned by Asa Faulkner & Son, is situated upon Bar- 
ren Fork, within half a mile of McMinnville. The amount of capital 
invested here is §85,000 ; number of operators employed, 60 ; average 
wages paid each hand per day, 50 cents; amount of cotton consumed in 
twelve months, 240,000 pounds ; number of yards produced of 4 — 4 sheet- 
ing, 710,000; number of looms, 60; number of spindles, 2,016. There is 
a fall in the stream at the factory which gives a head of thirteen feet 
within one and a half miles, furnishing a sixty-horse power for use at the 
factory. The principal market for these goods is Louisville. 

The McMinnville woolen mills, owned by Faulkner Brothers & Can- 
trell, three miles north of McMinnville, employ 39 operators. They are 
paid the following prices : 

20 Weavers, 1J cents per yard. 

4 Spinners, 40 cents per day. 

4 Corders, 75 and 40 cents per day. 

2 Watchmen, 60 cents each per day. 

2 Drummers $1.00 and $1.25 per day. 

2 Extra work hands, 40 cents per day. 

2 Extra mixing, picking hands, 60 cents per day. 

2 Foreman (owners of the mills.) 

1 Book-keeper, $1.75 per day. 

All are natives and white, and are said to be unsurpassed for efficiency 
and constancy. Tramp labor has proved a failure. 

Capital invested in the mills $30,000. 

Amount of wool used in 12 months, 35,000 pounds. 

Number of looms 20. 

Value of goods manufactured per annum $50,000. 

About 10,000 pounds of wool are obtained in the county, remainder 
mainly from Smith and Wilson. Southdown and Cotswold wools are pre- 
ferred, but these are more difficult to work than the short staple of the 
mountain sheep. The jeans, 7, 9, 10 ounces, made at these mills, find a 
ready sale in Smith, Wilson, DeKalb, Coffee and Warren counties. So 
great was the demand last winter that the proprietors doubled the capacity 
of their mills. Everything about these mill shows a growing thrift and 
prosperity. The owners are the chief operators, and to this fact is due 
the rapid growth and constant expansion of their business. 

The Hub and Spoke factory is located at McMinnville, and owned by 
T. F. Burrough & Co. The amount of capital invested is $30,000 ; num- 
ber of hands employed, 40 ; rate of wages paid is from 50 cents to $5 per 
day; value of annual products $60,000. This establishment makes han- 
dles, buggies and wagon material, except hubs and bent work ; ships to 



LANDS, SOILS AND CROPS. 105 

to all parts of the United States, Germany, England, and some pick han- 
dles to Australia. 

LANDS, SOILS AND CROPS. 

The lands for the most part being situated on the Lithostrotion bed, 
have the characteristic chocolate color, and are naturally very fertile. In 
some respects these lands are to be preferred to the rich black lands of the 
Central Basin. They have the capacity of resisting a drought much 
longer. The best farming lands are on the old Winchester road, on 
Hickory creek. The soil is a deep red clay, and was originally covered 
with hickory. It wears well. The farms are generally small. 

Wheat. — Boughton wheat and Lancaster red are the most generally 
grown. Lancaster red is thought to yield the largest quantity per acre. 

Wheat is generally sown broad-cast on corn lands, and late. The yield 
is not more than eight bushels per acre, by this process. It can be made 
to yield 20 bushels per acre. One gentleman who devotes his time mostly 
to wheat and clover, raises excellent crops of wheat by rotating with 
clover and sowing early in October. He thinks he will be able to make 
30 bushels per acre. 

Wheat fills better on Cardwell Mountain than in the lowland ; this 
mountain is very fertile, especially on its nothern slopes. Commingled 
with the soil are bones and muscle shells. The wheat is shipped to Au- 
gusta, Georgia. The cost of shipping from McMinnville to Augusta, is 
about fifty cents per bushel. 

Corn. — White corn is generally planted. A small quantity of yellow 
corn is planted for stock. Planted about the middle of April upon a 
soil scratched by a bull-tongue three inches deep, and planted slovenly, 
plowed about three times, the yield is from three to eight barrels per 
acre ; no surplus is shipped, that being fed to stock. 

Oats. — Rust severely affects the oats, and but few are sown. 

Sorghum — is extensively cultivated — sells at 20 cents per gallon ; gener- 
ally 100 gallons are made to the acre. 

Irish Potatoes. — This vegetable finds a congenial soil. The favorite va- 
rieties are the Northern Russets, Peerless and Early Rose. Very few are 
shipped; not as many. as are imported. Very little attention indeed is 
paid to any vegetable for shipping. 

Tobacco. — An effort is making to raise tobacco. It would add greatly 
to the income of the farmers of the county. It is thought about 100 
hogsheads will be made in the countv this year. 

Meadows. — Herds grass pays better than any other grass grown, though 
I saw some timothy. In some places blue-grass grows very well, especially 
on hill sides where limestone comes out and where walnut trees grow. 
Wherever walnut trees grow blue-grass flourishes with great luxuriance. 
August is said to be the best time for sowing herds grass. It is put up in 
stacks in the field. On the flat lands it is a standard crop. Some hogs 



106 WARREN COUNTY, 

and a few mules are carried South. Very few beef cattle are sold. Clover 
grows admirably, but is not raised to the extent it should be ; it is gener- 
ally cut for hay. 

Sheep. — Common scrub sheep are for the most part raised, yielding from 
2 to 2J pounds of wool each. The wool is coarse. There is but little 
demand for the Merino wool; it is too fine to be used in the factories of 
the county. 

Fertilizers. — No commercial fertilizers are used in the county. Stable 
manure is generally hauled out and applied to the hills of corn. 

FRUITS AND ORCHARDS. 

No county in the State has paid so much attention to fruit culture as 
Warren. It is, par excellence, the fruit growing county of the State. In 
that belt of the county overlooked by the mountains and lying at the base, 
fruit orchards are almost continuous. It is no uncommon thing to see 
apple orchards embracing fifty, sixty, one hundred, and even three hun- 
dred acres. Almost every variety of fruit has been tested, but the follow- 
lowing varieties are thought to be best adapted to the county : 

Summer Apples. — Early Harvest, a good shipper ; Early June, a good 
shipper, follows the Early Harvest. Horse apple succeeds next, and i s 
good for eating, drying, cooking and brandy making. It is said to make 
the finest-flavored brandy. Buncomb is a very soon apple, and is chiefly 
prized for making brandy, requiring only two bushels for a gallon o^ 
brandy. The tree is a long liver, and will flourish upon a poor, thin soil' 
which makes it very valuable for that portion of the county embraced in 
the ''Barrens." 

Fall and Winter Apples. — Red Pearmain is good for all purposes. It 
is an excellent market apple, bearing shipping well. In color it is red, has 
a fine flavor, and in shape is oblong resembling the Sheep-nose. Wine- 
sap is a great favorite, the tree is hardy, long-lived, and bears well- 
Hall's Seedling is a favorite winter apple. The following list of apples is 
recommended by a leading orchardist for the valley lands, allowing five 
acres for a small orchard : 

5 Striped and 5 Red June, 5 Early Joes, 5 May apples, 10 common 
H)rse, 10 Sweet (of different kinds), 10 Queens, 10 Gribble, 10 Poplar- 
Blacks, 10 Winter Horse, 10 Sheep, 10 Hall's Seedling, 10 Winter Sweet 
20 Jennett, 20 Newtown Pippin, 10 Fall Pearmain, 5 Turner Grand, 5 
Lady Finger, 10 Sweet Limber Twig (can tell them from the common 
Limber Twig only by the flavor, they will mellow much sooner, but will 
not keep so long), 50 common Limber Twig, which will make a small or- 
chard full and comp ete. 

Apples for Mountain Top. — For the mountain top the following is a list 
that succeds well : Wine Sap, Limber Twig, Spotted Buck — this last 
variety is a fine keeper, it does not do well in coves — Cagle apple does well 
on the mountains, also the June Red and Horse apple. 



FRUITS AND ORCHARDS. 107 

The Limber Twig is most admirably adapted to the coves and mountain 
tops, while in the valley it is to some extent a failure. On the mountain 
this apple is juicy, tender and brittle, with a blood-red color. In the val- 
ley it rots and specks on the trees, and the fruit is tough and leathery 
with a green color, totally unlike the apple on the mountain, though of 
the same variety. This variety bears a very heavy crop every alternate 
year, the year between the trees only bear about one-third of a crop. The 
apples are kept by putting them up in the field and covering up with 
leaves. After the severest winter they will come out perfectly sound. 
The rains do not hurt them, while freezes seem to be a benefit to them ; 
they will not bear transportation, they are essentially brandy making, and 
are said to be much better for making brandy after freezing. They are 
never good until late spring. About two bushels of these apples are re- 
quired to make one gallon of brandy. 

The Vandevere is a good fall apple ; there are trees existing in the 
county fifty years old. The Wine Sap grows to perfection in the clay 
lands, and is to the valley what the Limber Twig is to the coves and moun" 
tain sides. Hall's Seedling grows better in the dry lands than any of the 
other varieties. The trees are long-lived and require very little attention. 
It is an excellent fruit for family use, but is too small for market. The 
Smoky Twig is a late fall apple, but with careful handling can be kept until 
spring. It has just enough acid about it to prevent it being 
called a sweet apple. It also grows well in clayey soils. This apple 
does well and is not liable to spot. Spotted Buck is a good apple but 
yields sparsely. Tne Vandexbilt, a late fall apple, on the whole does well, 
though cannot be said to do so well as many other varieties ; it is a never- 
failing producer, but is liable to speck. 

As a general rule an orchard reaches its maximum production from 
eight to ten years. With care it will not show any evidences of decline 
for ten years, after which time it gradually declines for fifteen or twenty, 
then and is cut down or abandoned. 

The yield of a good orchard in its prime, is estimated at an average, in 
a good fruit year, of ten bushels to the tree, on good soil, and there are 
from fifty to seventy-five trees to the acre. It is no uncommon thing to 
see from 20,000 to 30.000 bushels of apples put up on an orchard farm to 
be distilled, or sold during the winter. 

There are often partial failures in fruit, resulting from bad seasons or 
for the want of proper culture. There is but little complaint from disease* 
the trees are generally healthy ; orchards of a thousands trees are seen and 
not one tree will be missing. There are no prevailing diseases. A Hew 
die from imperfect grafts and diseased roots, made so by compacting to- 
gether in a tough subsoil. 

Brandy -making. — The making of brandy has always been regarded as 
very profitable, and in certain portions of the county, it is almost the only 
article of gale. 



108 WAEREN COUNTY, 

A very large proportion of fruit is distilled as the apples are taken from 
the trees. Very often the apples are ground up and put in open vats or 
tubs, where most of them will remain for six or eight months without im- 
pairing their value for making brandy. At the time of my visit, in July, 
there were distilleries running on apples ground up the preceding Novem- 
ber. Tt is estimated that it takes one-half the value of the fruit to convert 
it into brandy. The estimates of the profits of a good orchard are about 
as follows : 

One acre containing from 49 to 64 trees averaging from 5 to 10 bushels 
each, will yield from 300 to 500 bushels, and it takes 2J bushels winter 
apples, 3 bushels of fall, and 4 bushels of summer, as a general thing, 
to make one gallon of brandy. Five hundred bushels of apples, allowing 
3 bushels to one gallon, will make 166 gallons of brandy, which, at $1.60 
per gallon, will be worth $265.60. From this deduct 90 cents per gallon 
for revenue, and it will leave a profit of $116.20 per acre. But of this 
amount one-half should be deducted for labor and fixtures for converting 
the apples into brandy, so that a clear profit of $58 is made to the acre. 
But this profit is only realized on orchards in their prime, and in a good 
fruit year, and when the whole crop is converted into brandy. 

In the case of H. L. W. Hill against Meadows, which was adjudicated 
in the Chancery Court shortly after the war, the affidavits show that 940 
gallons of proof brandy were made from an orchard of five acres. 

Mr. Jesse Nunley, one of the most extensive fruit growers in the United 
States, made 1,950 gallons of brandy from 200 trees, or about four acres of 
orchard. The orchard was in Nunley's cove, 15 miles south of McMinn- 
ville. The soil is dark and loamy, with some admixture of mountain 
sand. It is very friable and very rich. 

There are 77 distilleries in Warren county, and from the 1st of August, 
1876, to 1st August, 1877, 40,155 gallons of apple brandy were made, or 
about 1,000 barrels. 

Apple Trade. — A very active trade is springing up in apples, many 
small farmers buying up the apples and carrying them on wagons to 
Alabama and Georgia during the fall and winter months. The price paid 
for apples varies from 20 cents to 50 cents per bushel, and they are sold at 
Huntsville and other points at from $1 to $1.50 per bushel. Sometimes 
as many as twenty-five wagons loaded with apples may* be seen in one 
train. These wagons usually take out from 25 to 40 bushels each, making 
the trip to Huntsville and back in seven days. The wagoners take along 
provisions and provender enough to last the trip. By this means from 
$2.50 to $4.00 per day are realized for the use of wagons and teams, and as 
this trade is carried on when the teams are not required on the farms, it 
becomes a source of employment and some profit. 

Befora the war fruit was sometimes sold to parties in Cincinnati, the 
fruit men paying 25 cents per bushel on the trees. At this time there was 
very little brandy made, and there were comparatively few orchards. 



FEU ITS AND OECHAEDS. 109 

Since then the fruit farmers in the mountainous portion of the county rank 
all others, and some very handsome fortunes have been made. Nor is this 
interest abating in the least. It is extending from the mountain edges to 
the barrens or flat lands, the returns from the orchards being almost al- 
ways satisfactory. 

The profits on the apples when sold as fruit is very considerable, but the 
demend is by no means so regular as for brandy, and oftentimes a fruit- 
raiser cannot afford to wait. About one-third of the fruit is imperfect and 
not suited to market. 

Management of Orchards. — The usual treatment of orchards is to plow 
the trees twice each year, once in the spring, and again late in the summer. 
So'iie field crop is usually planted in the orchard. Corn is generally plant- 
ed, except when the soil is so thin that it will not pay to cultivate the whole 
land. In that ca*e the land is plowed for a distance of five feet on each 
side of the trees. As the orchard approaches maturity the whole of the 
inter-space is plowed out. 

The Limber Twig is rarely ever pruned. The other varieties are trim- 
med a little for two years. The water-sprouts are rubbed off as they are 
put out in spring. 

The Limber Twig requires no more trimming than a forest tree. The 
limbs come very near the ground ; the twigs are very limber and reach 
downward. The owners of large orchards seldom ever dry any fruit. 
This business is confined to small farmers, and tenants living with large 
fruit growers. It forms a large item in the exports of the county. Dur- 
ing the year of 1876 a very large 1 quantity of apples was dried. 

Mode' of Drying Apples. — They are dried on scaffold*, readily constructed, 
in the sun, out of rough plank. In good weather the apples will be dry 
enough in two days to take in and spread in an airy place, under shelter, 
where, after remaining a short time, they are ready for the sack; The 
fruit is pared and cut by a machine made for the purpose, consisting of a 
circular blade. The core is also taken out by the some machine. With 
this machine one good hand can peel and spread out enough to make one 
bushel of dried apples per day. About three bushels of green fruit will 
make one bushel of dry. The Limber Twig makes the best dried fruit, 
being easy to cook. The average price of dried apples is about 2J cents 
per pound, 24 pounds making a bushel. This work is principally done by 
women and children. 

Cider. — Cider is rarely made except for home uses. Made of the Lim- 
ber Twig in the fall, it can, by pursuing the following course, be kept sweet 
and good throughout the entire winter : 

The cider is made and put in a barrel with the bung left out ; as it evap- 
orates add fresh cider, and thus continue from time to time until all fer- 
mentation ceases ; it is then tightly bunged up. When the cider is drawn 



110 WARREN COUNTY, 

it sparkles like champagne, is equally as clear, and resembles the amber 
hue of wine. 

Peaches — are ^ery uncertain. There are a few localities about the 
mountains where the peach trees bear wich some certainty, but as a crop, 
it has been abandoned as unprofitable and untrustworthy. 

The late frosts in the spring are almost sure to destroy the crop, but oc- 
casionally it escapes, and the fruit is then very luscious and of the finest 
quality. 

Peaches are generally seedlings, but few budded trees being planted. 

Pears — are a very sure crop. The trees are subject to no disease ; they 
succeed finely everywhere. The principal pears are the Bart'ett and Bell. 
The Seckle is grow»> to some extent ; all qualities grow well and bear pro- 
fusely. There are, however, comparatively speaking, few trees planted. 
Were proper attention given them they would prove quite as profitable as 
the apple, the irees being very healthy and long-lived. No such thing as 
"pear blight" has ever yet been sren in the county. Cultivation is unneces- 
sary. I saw trees loaded down with fruit, the soil around which had never 
been disturbed since they were planted. 

Cherries — are also very certain. The May Cherry is not such a sure 
bearer as the Muriilo, the latter never fails ; there is very little attention 
paid to cherries. 

Plums. — The Chickasaw plums bear well and are a great certainty. 
The Wild Goose plum is more uncertain. 

Grapes. — The Delaware ripens to great perfection. The Concord and 
Ives Seedling do well. The Catawba and Isabella, when protected by the 
eaves of a house is a pretty sure crop, but they rot and fall off in open 
grounds. The Scuppernong, contrary to its usual habit, bears well on the 
clayey soil. A wild grape called the Fox grape, very much like the 
Scuppernong in appearance, but a little under size, grows wild in profu- 
sion. The bunches are small, only two or three berries on a bunch. This 
grape is said to make a most excellent wine, indeed much better than any 
of the varieties previously mentioned. 

Perries. — Blackberries grow everywhere, rarely ever failing ; a great 
many are canned. 

Raspberries are cultivated in gardens, and are certain bearers. 

Gooseberries never fail. Currants, as bearers, are a failure, consequently 
are not planted. 

All varieties of strawberries do well. Hovey's Seedling, Peabcdy 
and Wilson's Albany are the principal varieties grown. 

Huckleberries grow wild in the barrens and on the mountains. Those 
grown on the mountains are much larger nd sweeter. They grew in great 
abundance, and are gathered by women and children, and sold to merchants 
for about 10 to 12} cents per gallon. Some of them are dried. An active 
woman can gather a bushel a day, and it forms the principal article of 
traffic for the women of the mountainous section of the county. 



DAIRY INTERESTS. Ill 

Chestnuts are also gathered by this same class and brought to the market. 
They generally bring $1 per bushel. 

DAIRY INTERESTS. 

This is attracting some degree of interest and attention, and where well 
conducted is proving quite profitable. 

Mr. Samuel Ma§k Ramsey, on Hickory creek, has made an experiment 
in this direction that is productive of good results, and is likely to be the 
harbinger of an important industry. In June, 1875, he commenced ship- 
ping butter to Nashville for which he got 40 cents per pound in the mar- 
ket. He made then about 40 pounds per week. During the winter he 
failed to procure a market, so he packed his butter all through the winter, 
and in the spring of 1876, this butter was shipped to Chattanooga and sold 
for 30 cents per pound. Fifty pounds per week were furnished to the hotel 
in McMinnville throughout the summer. During this same summer (1876) 
the cows and calves were turned together, only taking from them milk 
enough to supply the engagement with the hotel in McMinnville. After- 
wards a proposition came from a firm in Chattanooga to give 30 cents per 
pound at the dairy for one year. One hundred pounds per week were 
shipped to this firm, and the demand constantly increased. Two hundred 
pounds per week could be disposed of to the same firm, and 35 cents per 
pound the year round, is now offered for another year. 

This dairy consists of 30 cows. The best milkers will give from five to 
six gallons of milk per day, but these are not the best butter cows. Those 
from whose milk is made the largest quantity of butter, give only two and 
y. half to three gallons per day. Forty-two gallons of milk give 15 pounds 
of butter. Only the cream is churned. The milk is set in deep vessels 
stands 36 hours in a spring the temperature of which is 56 degrees. The 
churning is done at a temperature of 60 degrees. A Blanchard churn is 
used. It takes about three-quarters of an hour to get the butter. Eight to 
twelve gallons of cream are put in the churn, and usually from 14 to 18 
pounds of butter taken out. The butter-milk is then drawn off, and the 
butter is washed through three waters of strong brine in the churn. If 
washed in fresh water the grain and color are both injured. After the 
washing the butter is taken out and weighed, and one ounce of Ashton dairy 
salt to the pound of butter is added. It is then put back into the churn 
and the butter thoroughly worked, until the salt is well incorporated with 
it. It is then taken up and put in a porcelain butter package, and set in a 
cold spring, where it can be kept any length of time. It should be re- 
washed after standing in the spring twenty-four hours. This washing is 
done by a lever, until all the butter-milk is thoroughly worked out. It is 
then packed ready for shipping. Mr. Kamsey says he could dispose of 
1,000 pounds per week. Good butter is in great demand ; bad butter is in 
abundance, and there is no demand for it. Common butter brings from 10 
to 12 cen's per pound, while Mr. K/s butter brings in the Chattanooga 



112 "WARREN 

market 40 cents per pound and the demand is not half met. Butter-milk is 
fed to the pigs. Mr. R. thinks it is worth 2 cents per gallon for that pur- 
pose. 

The calf is taken from the mother at once, but is fed with the mother's 
milk until three weeks old. A table-spoonful of corn meal is put with a quart 
of boiling water. The temperature of the water is r^uced with sweet 
skimmed milk, and fed to the calf. The quantity of the meal is gradually 
increased, until a pint per day is given. This is generally when the calf is 
two months old — after this time it is fed on sweet and sour milk ad libitum. 

The cows for 1876, made on an average one hundred and seventy-six 
pounds of butter each. With better stock, two hundred and uVty pounds 
to the cow could have been made. Mr. Ramsey milks his cows twice a 
day, at 6 o'clock in the morning and 4 o'clock in the evening. His cow3 
are treated with great gentleness ; stables are cleaned out every day, and 
the milk vessels are scalded every time they are emptied. His butter is of 
a golden color both winter and summer. A gallon of meal is fed to each 
cow twice a day in the winter, and as much herds grass and clover as she 
can eat. Corn fodder is preferred to any other food. The cows are the 
best natives, with a few grade Shorthorns. These are better for butter- 
making than the common cows. In his locality Mr. R. thinks it best to 
breed his cows to a Shorthorn bull, in order to make beef of the calve*. 
One hand can milk and attend to twenty cows in winter. Mr. Ramsey 
gives his personal attention to the business, which is doubtless the princi- 
pal cause of his success. 

Grasses for Butter. — Sedge <jrass, says Mr. Ramsey, through, the month of 
June, will make more butter and better butter than any other grass ; it be- 
comes tough after this, and is almost valueless. This grass, if cut before 
the straw grows hard makes a very good hay. Horses and cattle are fond 
of it when cut in bloom. Herds grass is the best grass for a constancy. \t 
lasts longer, and can be grown all the year. 

Crow-foot comes up about the middle of May. It grows on wet land, 
and is very valuable in June and July. It crowds out everything in win- 
ter, and is very tenacious of life. Cows and horses are very fond of it. 
It is very briitle and succulent, and spreads with great rapidity. It grad- 
ually exterminates clover and herd's grass. It is the only compeer to 
broom sedge in its hardiness. 

The red-bird clover or Japan clover (Lespedeza striata) made its ap- 
pearance in 1870, and is covering the whole country. It supplies a large 
amount of grazing from the first of August until frost. It is short but 
very hardy. It destroys the broom sedge. Sheep eat it with avidity, but 
the first frost kills it ; it grows well on red clay soil. Clover succeeds ad- 
mirably, and is relied on for pasturage from the middle of May until the 
first of August. Clover is not valued as a butter grass, but as a hay it is 
held in high esteem. Guinea grass is being introduced as a provender grass* 



MINERALS. 113 

it can be cut four times during one season ; it grows to the height of six 
feet, making a very rank foliage. 

MINERALS. 

Coal. — Myers' cove, on Panther's creek of Collins river, lies southeast of 
McMinnville eight miles, and presents a very fine body of farming lands, 
at an elevation some 110 feet above McMinnville. This cove lies on the 
edge of the Cumberland mountains, and forms an indentation between two 
spurs. The limestone is found on the mountain slope 700 feet above the 
bed of Collins river. Ascending the mountain from this cove, we come to 
the Keystone Coal Company's bank, which is 750 feet above the level of 
Collins river. The coal is very much broken and disturbed, and is coverei 
by a heavy bed of blue shale evidently belonging to the lowest coal seam 
of the Cumberland table-land. The conglomerate has been eroded by 
time, and no traces of it are seen in this p^rt of the mountain. In the 
entry made by this company, at the distance of fifty feet from the mouth 
the coal seam is parted by a mass of shale, one portion rising up at a very 
sharp angle. The coal of the lower hall of the seam is commingled with 
masses of comminuted shale, and shows much contortion of laminse. 
This same seam of coal crops out without disturbance, south of this bank 
a few hundred yards. 

One mile and a half southeast of the Keystone bench, is Barnes' bank? 
the same seam which crops out at the Keystone bank. The opening of the 
seam at this place faces a great '"gulf," which runs south-east. The coal 
here pertains to the lower coal measure. The seam is 4 feet thick, and 
is 95 feet above the limestone, and 90 feet from the top of the mountain. 
The Fortress or Cliff rock which lies above the next seam, is about 50 
feet thick at this place, and the distance between the seams is 35 feet. 
This interval is composed of shales and thin sandstones. The conglomerate 
rock is nowhere seen, and the sub-conglomerate seam of coal is also ab- 
sent. Usually there are three seams of coal below the conglomerate : 

1. The lowest shale seam, from 50 to 100 feet above the limestone. 

2. The cliff seam, from 50 to 80 feet above the shale seam. 

3. The sub-conglomerate seam, lying immediately below the congl m- 
erate rocks. This last mentioned seam, with the conglomerate rock, has 
been swept away from this locality by erosion. 

Twenty miles south-east of McMinnville, on Dry Creek, of Hill's creek, 
a tributary of Collins river, is a point in Sequatchie county called the 
Central Coal Fields. Dry creek has a gentle ascent for about nine miles? 
rising in that distance about 700 feet. The bordering bluffs are composed 
of sandstone, with wavy and ebb-and-flow structure of strata. Under one 
of these bluffs, at Hill's saw mill, is an outcrop of block coal, which I am 
disposed to refer to the cliff seam, inasmuch as it is capped by about 50 
feet of sandstone. 

8 



114 WARDEN COUNTY, 

Six hundred yards east of this mill, on the edge of a little stream, Hill's 
bank has been opened. The seam here is 5j feet thick, the coal specimens 
are fragile but very pure, resembling in every particular the Sewanee coal- 
The seam has a heavy thickness of bluish shale above, fire-clay and sand- 
stone below. The seam is 45 ieet above that at the mill. I am unable 
from the data which I have to determine the proper place of this 
seam. There are two seams below. There is no conglomerate rock, though 
the hills rise up from 50 to 60 feet above the Hill bank. It certainly can- 
not be the conglomerate seam, for there is no sign of this rock ; besides it 
is too thick, and the constitution of the coal is entirely unlike. I am dis- 
posed to think it belongs to the upper coal measures for two reasons : 

1. The coal resembles that of the upper measures. 

2. The seam is very regular and continuous, there being no lenticular 
bulgings or irregularities in the thickness. Several openings have been 
made in this coal-field, all of which show the same regularity. There 
must be 10,000 acres here in one body, having a coal seam five feet thick. 
It is one of the most promising coal fields with which I am acquainted! 
A railroad could be constructed up the mountain, in Dry creek gorge, with 
a grade nowhere exceeding 80 feet per mile. 

Iron Ore.— Some good specimens of iron ore were shown me, but I could 
find no extensive deposits of this metal. Some, however, are reported to 

exist. 

Lithographic Stone.— A species of rock much resembling the Bavarian 
lithographic stone, is found in the county. I had some of it tested, but it 
proved of an inferior quality. Good stone is thought to exist in the 
county, and it is believed that a portion of the stone used for engraving 
Confederate notes and bonds was brought from Warren county. 

Hydraulic Cement.— This was manufactured for many years in the county. 
The quality was considered fair. 

Oil Borings.— An earnest effort was made to obtain petroleum in this 
county, but without success. Mr. Geo. Satterfield, who superintended the 
borings of the wells, has kindly furnished 'me with the following letter, 
which gives an insight into the thickness of the various strata through 
which the well passed, and their lithological character: 



McMinnville, Tenn., August 4, 1S77. 

J. B. Killebrew, Commissioner, Nashville, Tenn : 

Dear Sir— Your favor of the 2nd inst. received, asking record of well- 
boring in Warren county, Tenn., which you will find below : 



OIL WELLS. 115 

Mud Creek We 1 .— Seven miles north-east of McMinnville, on Sparta 
gq road, put down by in 1872 by Tennessee Oil Company ; depth 705 
feet. 

Sand, gravel and clay 20 

Hydraulic shale, soft 20 

Protean or siliceous limestone, very hard 200 

Black bituminous shale, soft 35 

Nashville group, cuts easy 200 

Trenton or Lebanon, more compact 230 

Whole depth 705 

The first 20 feet gave us considerable trouble, on account of the marshy 
nature of the creek bottom. We had to send to Pittsburg for driving pipe. 
After putting it in we got along better with the work. Our first rock was 
a hydraulic shale, cut soft, and is a bluish gray in color. We found the 
Protean bed formation here to be very different in appearance and charac- 
ter from what it is at the Spring creek wells in Overton county, Tenn. 
Here it is nearly white and very hard and tough; in Overton it is almost 
pure silica (blue flint), cuts very hard, but is easy to ream out. The lower 
100 feet of this rock I found here to be full of the odor of petroleum, and 
some light shows of oil. The black shale gives oil shows here the same as 
in Overton, and is alike throughout the extent of the deposit in Tennessee. 

The Nashville rocks lying immediately under the black shale for a 
depth of 100 feet, is composed almost wholly of marine fossils (molusks) 
and is soft and easy to drill. It is in this formation that we find 
the salt water in Warren and White counties. We struck the salt water 
in our well Xo. 2, at Rocky river, 11 miles northeast of McMinnville, at 
429 feet, and I am told the salt water in the Priest well, and also the 
Sniartt well, in this county, was struck at about the same depth. Large 
quantities of salt were mide at both those wells since the war, but both 
wells have long since been abandoned on account of the low price of salt. 

In the Mud creek well we struck white sulphur water at 489 feet from 
the surface, that has continued to flow out over the top of the well ever 
since, but we nad no oil shows below the black shale. In well No. 2, on 
Rock river, we had oil shows in Protean limestone at 125 feet from the 
surface ; also at 156, 170 and 193 feet from the surface, with the usual 
show in black shale, and pretty good show in Nashville limestone at 371 
feet. This well was put down 525 feet in all. No oil show in Trenton 
limestone in either well. Character of rock same in both wells. 

The Protean limestone formation in Warren county, has but a mere 
trace of lime in it, and is the most difficult rock to drill I have ever met 
with ; the borings are white as chalk. 

Many years since, some parties sunk a well for salt water on Rocky river 



116 WABREN COUNTY OIL WELLS. 

11 miles northeast of McMinnville, and two miles south ot where we put 
down well No. 2, and at about 340 feet in the Nashville rocks, struck oil in 
large quantities, that flowed out and went off on the river, and was set on 
fire while flowing. Many old men are living now in this county who re- 
member it well, among whom are John M. Drake, our present Sheriff, and 
Isaiah Hills. 

I am convinced, from my own work and the work of others, that oil, 
in paying quantities, exists in many localities along the western base of 
Cumberland Mountain, throughout Tennessee. 
Yours, truly, 

GEO. SATTERFIELD. 



OIL REGION 



OF 



TENNESSEE 



WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF ITS OTHER 



RESOURCES AND CAPABILITIES. 



By J. B. KlLLEBREW, 

Commissioner of Agriculture, Statistics and Mines. 



NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE: 

PRINTED BY "THE AMERICAN" PRINTING COMPANY. 

1877- 



LBJa'05 



